Fit-again Jepchirchir ready for London Marathon debut

After shaking off an injury, Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir is eying a strong return when she competes at the London Marathon on Sunday.

Jepchirchir will be making her maiden appearance on the streets of London on Sunday after fully recovering from a hip injury that saw her pull out of the New York City Marathon last year.

"I am really thankful to God for healing me. It was not an easy journey especially when the injury occurred suddenly. I also thank my management who flew me to Germany for medication in order to attain quick recovery." Jepchirchir told Citizen Digital before departing to London on Wednesday.

The former Boston and New York City Marathon champion will be hoping to pick from where she left having had an unbeaten run in all the major marathons she's competed in.

"For the last three months my preparations have been good and I trust I did everything to get my body ready for the race on Sunday." She said.

The 29-year-old will be up against a star-studded field that also has the defending champion and world 10K record holder Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia, marathon world record holder Brigid Kosgei and world marathon silver medallist Judith Jeptum.

In addition to that stellar trio, the reigning Olympic 10,000m and 5000m champion Sifan Hassan of Netherlands will be making her marathon debut.

Also on the start line will be the Ethiopian trio of; 1500m world record holder Genzebe Dibaba, the 2016 Olympic 10,000m champion Almaz Ayana and the reigning Berlin Marathon champion Tigist Assefa, the fifth-fastest women’s marathoner in history.

“It is a very strong field and although it comes with a little bit of tension, I think when you compete with strong opponents they bring the best out of you. My target is to have a good race and make it to the podium,” Jepchirchir said.