The evolution of Kenya's Rotterdam Marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge in athletics is just gaining pace.
He believes his rivalry with Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele will only get murkier when the duo line up Sunday on the streets of Chicago for the 42km distance, reports Xinhua.
Kipchoge, who turns 30 Nov 5, believes he has nothing to prove against his long time rival and friend Bekele, the Paris Marathon champion.
Kipchoge leads a horde of Kenya elite runners who departed Nairobi on Tuesday for the US. They include Chicago marathon women champion Rita Jeptoo, Florence Kiplagat, the world half marathon record holder and long distance runner Sammy Kitwara.
For Kiplagat, however, there is a small matter of honour in joining the elusive course and world record breaking elite club of Kenyan marathoners. Chicago hopefully will provide the platform to secure that performance.
"The focus is on lowering the course record in Chicago and that will thrust me in the two hours and three minutes region in running marathon. Whoever is included in the competition, will only spice up the race. I run my own style," said Kipchoge ahead of his departure.
Kipchoge's hard fought win in Rotterdam in April, carried out in his real front running style, was the baking of the cake and what happens on Sunday will be the icing.
"We might even dare to dream of a cherry on top. The world record is something we have talked with my management," he added.
"But it is something we are not dwelling on so much, since, this is my fourth marathon and has to see how the body responds to it. It is also my first time in USA and weather permitting I will let the legs do the talking."
Kipchoge made his debut in marathon in Hamburg in April 2013 clocking an impressive 2:05:30.
He returned to Germany in September over the flat Berlin course and claimed 2:04:05 time, which made him the runner-up to Wilson Kipsang (2:03:23), who set the world record.
This year, he ran 2:05:00 in windy conditions to win the Rotterdam marathon.
Another Kenyan Rita Jeptoo followed up her victory at Boston by easily taking the women' s race, finishing in 2:19:57 ahead of compatriot Jemima Sumgong Jelegat (2:20:48), followed by Maria Konovalova of Russia (2:22:46).
Jeptoo will be back in Chicago on Sunday to defend her crown and also gun for the World Marathon Majors (WMM) jackpot of $500,000.
But she has a small matter of beating another fast runner, Florence Kiplagat, the silver medallist at the London Marathon in April.
For the competitors in Chicago, there is too much at stake. The winners will each earn $100,000. There will be an additional $75,000 for the course record, while the women runners can get another $40,000 for finishing under two hours and twenty minutes.
