Uganda's 2012 Olympic gold medalist Kiprotich for NN Mission Marathon

KAMPALA, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Uganda's star runner Stephen Kiprotich will participate in the NN Mission Marathon slated for April 18 in Enschede, Netherlands.

Kiprotich, who won gold for Uganda at the 2012 London Summer Olympics, will be all out to try and register a good time to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics this year.

"This is the best chance for Kiprotich because Uganda only has three slots to fill in the Marathon. Presently going by the best times, Kiprotich is ranked fourth in the country and would not make the team. He needs to record better time in the Netherlands to make it on the Olympic team," Dominic Otuchet, president of Uganda Athletics Federation (UAF), told Xinhua.

Felix Chemonges, Uganda's Marathon record holder with a time of 2:05:12, and Geoffrey Kusuro will also participate in the NN Mission Marathon in the Netherlands.

However, the three Ugandan runners will battle against world record holder Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya and more than 60 other runners.

The current COVID-19 situation forced organizers to move the NN Mission Marathon from Hamburg, Germany, to the Netherlands. Enditem