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Double Boston Marathon champion Hellen Obiri has disclosed why she is not pushing herself too hard as she eyes a second straight New York Marathon crown next month.
Two-time Boston Marathon champion Hellen Obiri is taking a cautious approach ahead of her New York Marathon title defence on November 3.
With just a week before the race, Obiri, who is bidding to make it back-to-back titles in the ‘Big Apple’, has been hard at training but is careful in what she does since she has had less time to prepare and knows pushing hard could be catastrophic.
This is because she featured at the Paris Marathon at the start of August and has had less than two months to prepare for the big race. Obiri won bronze at the Paris Olympics where a niggling injury affected her and had to shake it off before resuming training for her title defence in New York.
“When I do it with the team, they give me hope. I was down because I was hoping to win in Paris but sometimes it’s the body, it's a human thing you cannot predict injuries so they really took care of me,” Obiri told FloTrack.
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20:23 - 14.10.2024
Ethiopian marathon star joins Hellen Obiri as latest addition to On’s elite roster
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“Getting good treatment and at times talking to me being with me all the time so after the injury is healed, I am like; ‘Can I work hard because the people around me are working hard to get well?’
“I am going there [New York] to defend my title and to defend your title you need to work extra hard because we have like less than eight weeks for training. That is too short so the most important thing is to look after your health and how fit I will be.
“I want to take care of myself and to see everything possible because anything can happen. Like you can get an injury but if you are in good shape, it is only to maintain it.”
Obiri says the Paris Olympics race was a preparation of some sort for New York and after a great outing, she is confident of retaining her title.
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05:45 - 02.10.2024
Kenya’s Hellen Obiri & Benson Kipruto maintain lead in chase for ultimate Ksh 6.4m Marathon Majors prize
Kenya’s Hellen Obiri & Benson Kipruto remain unchallenged for the Ksh6.4m World Marathon Majors prize but the chase is set to go down to the wire with two races remaining.
“Paris was a good way to show what I can do in New York because New York has been amazing to me, a beautiful city and I like running there. After Paris, I took some weeks off before I started running so it is only to see how my body and recovery will be,” she added.
Obiri, who won in a time of 2:27:23 last year, became the first woman to claim both New York and Boston Marathon titles in 34 years and having defended her Boston crown this year, she is on the cusp of history, if she achieves the rare double back-to-back.
It will not be easy, however, as she will be alongside a familiar foe in Kenyan compatriot Sharon Lokedi, who pushed her to the very end before settling for second in Boston this year, and also finished fourth behind her at the Olympics.
Lokedi is no stranger in New York as she won the race in 2022 and there is also multiple Olympics champion Tirunesh Dibaba from Ethiopia to offer stiff competition.
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19:13 - 20.08.2024
No rest for Hellen Obiri & Tamirat Tola as they look to defend their New York City Marathon titles
Days after being impressive at the Paris Olympics marathon, Hellen Obiri and Tamirat Tola will immediately return to train as they gear up for a grueling task to defend their titles at the New York City Marathon.
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