WORLD and Olympic 10,000m champion, Tirunesh Dibaba, has confirmed she will renew rivalries with Edna Kiplagat in next month’s Bupa Great North Run.
Kiplagat, who created history in Moscow last summer as she became the first woman to claim back-to-back World Championship marathon titles, was beaten by Dibaba in a thrilling sprint finish to the 2012 Great North Run.
The tables were turned in this year’s London Marathon though, with Kenyan Kiplagat pulling clear to triumph after Ethiopian Dibaba dramatically dropped a water bottle at the 30k drinks station.
Dibaba eventually had to settle for third place in her debut marathon, but the 28-year-old returned to winning ways in May’s Bupa Great Manchester 10k and has confirmed her participation on the streets of Tyneside next month.
Kiplagat is sure to be one of her leading rivals, with the Kenyan hoping to become only the fifth woman to win the Bupa Great North Run and London Marathon in the same year, following Liz McColgan (1996), Joyce Chepchumba (1999), Paula Radcliffe (2003) and Priscah Jeptoo (2013).
Another leading Kenyan, Mary Keitany, should also be a contender, having formerly held the world record for the half-marathon and won the London Marathon in 2011 and 2012.
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