NAIROBI, Jan. 27 (Xinhua) -- With no hopes of competing at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, Kenya's Geoffrey Mutai has signed up to run in Austria at the Linz Marathon on April 15.
Mutai who has won in New York, Boston, Berlin and London has been struggling with injury but has been successful to shake it off and will be ready for his debut race in Austria.
The Kenyan remains the second fastest marathoner in history. Mutai ran 2:03:02 in Boston in 2011 but the time was not considered a world record at the time because of the nature of Boston course.
The World record was later lowered by compatriot Dennis Kimetto in 2014 in Berlin to 2:02.57.
"My injury concerns are over. I am now focused on regaining my fitness and see how competitive I can get to. The target is always to run fast time and in Austria, it will be my first time but I have high hopes, it will be a fast race and hopefully secure the win," said Mutai, Saturday in Eldoret.
The Kenyan however, ruled out going for the world record on his return saying he still needs to gauge his body and see if the weather conditions will be favorable for him to think of work record.
"It is hard because you run against the clock. But in Linz, the focus will be to be the best and hopefully in fast time. The world record can be contested later by other faster athletes," he said.
In Linz, Mutai will have to careful as he will be paired with compatriot Elijah Kemboi, who has run 2:07:34. Mutai has to focus on beating the current course record of 2:07:33.
"I am looking forward to this challenge at the Linz Donau Marathon - I have heard a lot of positive things about the event and the really fast course," said Mutai.
To help him attain his goal to setting a new course record, the organizers have lined up strong pacemakers.
Additionally Elijah Kemboi, whose best performance is 2:07:34 in Frankfurt 2013, is going to push him all the way.
"It is going to be an exciting fight for the win," said the marathon athlete-coordinator Gunther Weidlinger in a statement.
