•On Saturday the 39-year-old will look to become the first person to win three consecutive marathon titles at the Games.
•As well as holding off a field dominated by younger competitors, Kipchoge will be battling the weather.
Image: FILE
Eliud Kipchoge is used to leading from the front, but the Kenyan is pursuing his place in the sporting history books at the Paris Olympics.
On Saturday, the 39-year-old will look to become the first person to win three consecutive marathon titles at the Games. As well as holding off a field dominated by younger competitors, Kipchoge will be battling the weather.
Temperatures in the French capital were impacted by extreme heat last week, with the mercury rising into the mid-30s Celsius.
“The course is tough - about 40 per cent is hilly – and I think the temperature will contribute a lot,” he told BBC Sport Africa.
“Even by eight, nine, 10, in the morning, I think it will go up to 30 degrees. It is tough to run a full marathon (in) 30 degrees.
“It will take a lot of time for us to climatise, to prepare the mind to go through that tough temperature on the course.”
From a starting elevation of 36 metres above sea level in the centre of the city, the route will climb to a peak of 183m on the road to Versailles ahead of a second, sharper ascent to 172m before the 30km mark as the competitors return to Paris.
The start will be at 08:00 local time (06:00 GMT), and Kipchoge altered his training regime at his base in Kaptagat in a bid to add another gold medal to his ones from Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2020.
“I will keep in my mind about running the hilly course and try to do some runs (in) high temperatures to conduce my body towards Paris,” he explained in an interview during his preparations. “Sometimes timing to train maybe at 10 am, 11 am to feel that heat.
“It will depend on the day because it might be a faster marathon, it might be slow. “But (at the) Olympics we don't consider time.”
When Kipchoge crossed the finish line in Sapporo, Japan, three years ago he matched the achievements of successive Olympic marathon champions Abebe Bikila (1960 and 1964) and Waldemar Cierpinski (1976 and 1980).
The Kenyan no longer holds the world record over 26.2 miles (42.195km), with his mark bettered by the late Kelvin Kiptum last October, but is “fighting for history” as he looks to surpass the men from Ethiopia and East Germany.
“I want to go into history books, to be the first human being to win back-to-back-to-back,” he said.
Back in April, Kipchoge said his “huge expectation” was to win in Paris despite finishing 10th at March's Tokyo Marathon – his lowest-ever competitive placing.
“It will put more pressure [on] and a lot of expectations are there,” he said.
“If I lose a marathon then I’ll get disappointed. But then I go back and start the journey again.”
On the rare occasions, that Kipchoge does not top the podium – which has happened just three times since the start of 2014— he draws inspiration from challenges which other elite sportsmen have endured.
He cites the examples of seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes this season and former UFC title-holder Francis Ngannou being knocked down in a boxing match by Anthony Joshua in March.
“You can be in good shape but that one punch can knock you out and finish you in one second,” Kipchoge added.
“It’s not about losing. It’s about getting up and going straight to your goal again.”