Kenyans dominate marathon world in 2011

No adjective can adequately describe what Kenyan marathoners accomplished in 2011, the first year in history of marathon that all the five big city marathons were won by Kenyans. Geoffrey Mutai triumphed in Boston and New York, Moses Mosop was crowned in Chicago, Emmanuel Mutai took the London honors while Patrick Makau trounced the emperor of marathon running Haile Gebrselassie in Berlin. All five World Marathon Majors saw new course records set, and in Boston and New York, the standards were taken down to times that few fans or pundits would ever have deemed possible for those race courses. There was a new all-time fastest marathon by Geoffrey Mutai, 2:03:02 in Boston followed closely by Mosop's 2:03:06. And while that was not deemed a "world record" by the governing bodies, because of the geographical distance between the start and its down hill finish, there was a "real" world record of 2:03:38 by Makau in Berlin in September. That was not all, it was followed not long after by Wilson Kipsang's close brush with that new standard, his own 2:03:42 in Frankfurt. The men responded to the challenge of taking down stellar course marks set by the late and already legendary 2008 Olympic gold medallist Sammy Wanjiru. Emmanuel Mutai's 2:04:40 erased Wanjiru's record in London, and Mosop did the same in Chicago with his 2:05:37. The only "major" marathon where a men's record was not set was the World Championships, and that's mainly because the gold medallist, Abel Kirui, already had the Championships record (2:06:54) from his gold medal effort in 2009. But Kirui did establish another standard of supremacy; his winning margin of two minutes and 28 seconds was the largest ever in the men's marathon at the Worlds. By the time Geoffrey Mutai was taking more than two minutes off New York City's course record with a 2:05:06, which was in its own way, nearly as stunning as his 2:03:02 in Boston, one could only think that, yes, 2:05 is the new 2:08. And 2:03 is the new 2:05. What once seemed phenomenal was becoming ... well, if not commonplace, at least far from unique. There were 2:05s in 2011 marathons with such frequency that we might be forgiven for greeting them with a shrug. Be honest now, did anyone even notice, for example, that Jafred Chirchir Kipchumba won in Eindhoven in October in 2:05:48? No you did not. Thus far, every name mentioned is Kenyan. Kenyans didn't just win every World Marathon Major in 2011. They also got all five runner-up spots, and a one-two finish at the World Championships. On the IAAF's list of top marks, which doesn't include Boston, the 20 fastest marathoners and 24 best performances for 2011 are all Kenyan. It's not that everyone else is standing still. Ethiopians Gebre Gebremariam and Tsegaye Kebede, winners of World Marathon Majors in 2010 and third place finishers in 2011's Boston and New York City Marathons, respectively, are going to be medal contenders whenever they enter a 42km race. New faces are emerging in Uganda and Eritrea, and Brazil's Marilson Gomes dos Santos, the first non-Kenyan name on that IAAF list, is still to be reckoned with. And there is Ryan Hall. The big issue, however, looking ahead to the 2012 London Olympic marathon, is deciding who's going to be there for Kenya. Imagine having Geoffrey Mutai, Emmanuel Mutai, Patrick Makau, Moses Mosop, Wilson Kipsang, Abel Kirui, and Martin Lel in your ranks and only being able to select three of them to go to the Games. The Kenyan juggernaut is so great that the World Championships silver medallist, Vincent Kipruto, never even seems to be a part of this discussion. Ultimately, the winner of the dramatically close battle for the 2010-2011 men's World Marathon Majors title, and 500,000 U.S. dollars, was Emmanuel Mutai with 70 points, followed by Geoffrey Mutai with 65, Patrick Makau with 60, and Tsegaye Kebede with 51. Emmanuel scored in four marathons during the qualifying period but only won once but his consistency put him over Geoffrey who notched two victories. In women's marathon in 2011, the most powerful players were two women who built upon their existing top tier credentials, Liliya Shobhukova and Edna Kiplagat, and two young champions at other distances who matured to become 2:19 marathoners, Mary Keitany and Florence Kiplagat. Shobhukova, originally a middle distance track star, became the first person to "three-peat" at the Chicago Marathon with her 2011 win. Adding that to her London victory in 2010 and a second place there in 2011combined to make her the 2010-2011 World Marathon Majors women's champion. With her 2:18:20 run, which was three minutes and 49 seconds ahead of the runner-up and fast enough for 13th overall in the race, Shobhukova became the fastest female marathoner not named Paula Radcliffe. Edna Kiplagat, who had won the Los Angeles and New York City Marathons in 2010, managed just a third place in London in April, but she did run a personal best of 2:20:46. And then she provided us with a memorably dramatic brush with disaster. In the summer, she proved herself to be a tenacious competitor, and a resilient one, at the World Championships in Daegu. Clipped from behind by one of her Kenyan teammates with 5km remaining, Kiplagat tumbled to the pavement but rose quickly and went on to win gold, leading a Kenyan sweep of all three medals. The injury subsequently prevented her from running in New York as planned. Florence Kiplagat had been a World Cross Country champion in 2009 and was the World Half Marathon title-holder in 2010; this was the year she mastered the full marathon distance with her 2:19:44 victory in Berlin. Mary Keitany, the world record-holder for the half-marathon and 25k, had long been thought to be a spectacular marathoner-in-waiting. The wait ended with her brisk 2:19:19 victory in London. Kenyans Caroline Kilel, outsprinting American Desiree Davila to win in Boston and there was Caroline Rotich who also did well. Sporting spectacles like this are not soon forgotten. With the eyes on the London Olympics, it will provide an intriguing mix of cagey veterans, newly established world-beaters, and rising upstarts in an epic struggle for marathon's top spot in 2012. We'll be watching.