Kenyan marathon superstar Eliud Kipchoge will start as the overwhelmingly favourite at the Sunday's Airtel Delhi Half Marathon following his exploits at the Rio Olympics.
With over 34,000 plus participants — including 12 Olympians — expected to run on Sunday the spotlight will be on none more than Eliud. The Rio full marathon (42.195 km) race champion Kipchoge will be participating in the first race since his memorable triumph at the Olympics in August.
Kipchoge, who turned 32 on November 5, has won seven successive marathons and is unbeaten over the classic distance in the last three years.
However, the ADHM will be his first outing over a shorter distance since he finished sixth at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in UAE in February 2015.
It will also be six years since last time the Kenyan graced Indian soil when he won silver in 5000m at the 2010 Commonwealth Games.
Kipchoge's half marathon personal best is 59:25. He will definitely be backed by many to break the ADHM course record of 59:06 that was set by Ethiopia's Guye Adola in 2014.
However, he is expected to face a strong challenge from Yigrem Demelash of Ethiopia. Demelesh holds a personal best of 59:49 minutes in the half marathon.
Gladwin Mzazi of South Africa, who had set his personal best of 61:12 minutes at the Delhi Half Marathon in 2013 and Jackson Kiprop (62:05) of Uganda are also expected to be strong contenders in Sunday's race.
The only downside will be in the form of Ugandan long-distance runner and the 2012 london Olympic Marathon gold medallist Stephen Kiprotich pulling out of Sunday's marathon after losing his father earlier this week.
Reigning half marathon (21.097 km) World Champion Peres Jepchirchir, also of Kenya, will be the star runner in the womens elite race category.
Her main competitors could be in the form of Helah Kiprop and the Ethiopian duo of Worknesh Degefa and Netsanet Gudeta.
Peres' personal best is 66:39, while Worknesh (66:14) and Netsanet (67:31) are not far behind. Forty-year-old Italian veteran Valeria Straneo (67:46), who won her last two marathons in Italy, may also be a tough opponent for the African athletes.
The Indian elite athletes to watch out for are G lakshmanan, MD Yunus, and Man Singh in the men's category and Swati Gadhave, Sanjeevani Jadhav and Monika Athare in the women's field.
Yunus, who won the 2016 Kolkata Marathon with a timing of 2:30:37 and stood third at the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2015 with a timing of 01:04:47, will be the one to keep an eye on Sunday in the Indian men's section.
This time he is all geared up to claim his place at the top. "I will aim for a course record," Yunus said while also mentioning lakshmanan and Man Singh among others to be his potential challengers.
lakshmanan is also in good form this year. He has won the World 10K 2016 in Bengaluru and has bagged numerous titles including the Delhi Half Marathon in 2013, and the Cochin Marathon this year. His timing at the Cochin Marathon was 1:04:38 which is his personal best.
Swati, who took the women's 10000m title at the Federation Cup 2016, won the World 10K in Bengaluru this year with a timing of 34:45 while Sanjeevani, who will make her debut in the half marathon event on Sunday, was the runner-up with 35:48:78. Former national champion Monika Athare is also expected to provide a strong challenge to both.
The $2,70,000-prize money event will witness 12,844 runners in the elite Half Marathon (men and women); 19,972 in the Great Delhi Run, 1004 Senior Citizens, and 445 people in the Champions with Disability category, taking the total number of participants to 34,325.
Moreover there will be a Volini Recovery Zone at the finish line, where over 120 recovery experts will be tending to tiring muscles.