Edna set for Six Star glory

Three-time women's AbbottWMM series champion Edna Kiplagat will become a Six Star Finisher at the 2018 BMW Berlin Marathon this September.

The Kenyan two-time world champion will become the first female elite able-bodied athlete to earn the famous Six Star Medal when she crosses the finish line in the German capital, having announced her intention to run Berlin today, adding yet another achievement to a glittering marathon-running career.

Kiplagat, 38, began her AbbottWMM odyssey with victory in the 2010 TCS New York City Marathon and followed that with second place at the Virgin Money London Marathon in April 2011. She then clinched world gold in Daegu in 2011 and another second in London in 2012, where she set her PB of 2:19:50.

She was second again in the UK capital in 2013 and then added a second straight world title with gold in Moscow that same year.

Kiplagat finally cracked the top step of London's podium in 2014 with victory on The Mall.

Two more podiums (third in Tokyo and second at the Bank of America Chicago Marathon) in 2016 continued a stunning string of AbbottWMM performances, topped by a win in Boston in 2017.

Later that year her form carried her to second in the London World Championships, and she now has her sights trained on the podium in the shadow of the Brandenburg Gate on September 16.

But she will face stiff competition in the form of Ethiopia's Tirunesh Dibaba. The reigning Chicago champion will be making her Berlin debut and hoping to get her Series XII campaign off to a successful start. Dibaba finished second behind Mary Keitany in Series XI after a tough day at the office at the 2018 Virgin Money London Marathon where she did not register a finish.

The 32-year-old has won three gold medals at consecutive Olympic Games (2008 and 2012) and five World Championships from 2003 to 2013. For good measure, Dibaba has also four World Cross Country titles to her credit.

Her personal best is 2:17:56, set in finishing second at the 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon which makes her the third fastest woman in the history of the marathon.

The 35-year-old Gladys Cherono from Kenya also lines up to defend the title she won in 2017.

For more information, visit the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON press release.

Click here to see the AbbottWMM news page.

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