Revealed! Why Evans Chebet wasn’t included in Kenya’s marathon team for Paris Olympics

Kenyan athletics fans had a lot of hopes in two-time Boston Marathon winner Evans Chebet making it to Kenya’s 2024 Paris Olympic Games marathon team.

However, most of them were disappointed when his name was not part of the five-man list that was recently released by Athletics Kenya.

The star-studded squad had the defending champion Eliud Kipchoge, reigning Tokyo Marathon winner Benson Kipruto, Vincent Ngetich, Timothy Kiplagat and Alexander Mutiso.

Chebet’s coach Claudio Berardelli has now come out and divulged the reason the talented runner was left out of Kenya’s squad.

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According to him, Chebet has struggled with an Achilles injury since 2023 and hence it would have been difficult for him to race in two marathons in a space of four months.  

“Basically when Athletics Kenya asked for the interest from the athlete, Evans was still kind of nursing the injury and he was a little bit under pressure because you know Boston will be his 29th marathon.

So, you understand for him first of all is to see if he is still able to perform. Maybe he did not express his 100 percent interest.

But of course now he is here. He wants to see how Boston will go and then in case Athletics Kenya will come to him and have a talk with him, he is ready for it.

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If not, he said that he is fine because Kenya has plenty of strong athletes. Benson Kipruto is his teammate, so we will see, let him run Boston,” the Italian tactician stated in an interview with Citius Magazine.

When asked if he would have liked to see two of his athletes represent Kenya in Paris in August, Berardelli stated that even more would do for him.

“Even three if possible. Why not. I mean Olympics is very unique for the athlete and for me as a coach,” he commented.

Chebet, who has secured top four positions in the 27 marathons that he has taken part in and only dropped out once, will be seeking to win his third Boston Marathon title on Monday, April 15.

The 35-year-old heads to Boston with a personal best of 2:03.00 which makes him one of the favorites to win this year’s edition.

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However, for him to triumph on Monday, he will have to beat a number of strong runners including Tanzania’s Gabriel Geay and compatriot John Korir.

Some of the other top runners who will be in contention in the road race are Ethiopia’s Sisay Lemma and the Kenyan trio of Albert Korir, Edward Cheserek, and Cyprian Kotut.

Despite the stiff competition, Berardelli has backed his man to conquer the streets of Boston once again.

“All in all he put together some good stuff and I count on his instincts, experience and the way he knows Boston very well. So we will see.

Boston is always Boston. It is not an easy race for many reasons. But he is happy. He is motivated,” noted the experienced coach. 

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