Morocco's Kannouchi forerunner in London Marathon

Morocco's Khalid Khannouchi is given as the top candidate to win Sunday's London Marathon.

Khannouchi, 28, holds the world's best marathon time with 2:5.42. He shattered the world record in only his third race over 42.195 km in last year's Chicago marathon.

Formerly coached in his native Morocco by Said Aouita, the 1984 Olympic 5,000 meters champion and multiple world record holder, Khannouchi has been living in New York since 1993.

Another Moroccan, Abdelkader El Mouaziz, 31, who has a 2:07:57 time, is the expected first runner-up.

El-Mouaziz made a daring break after 30 kms in the 1998 London event and almost carried on to win before he was caught just under two km to run.

Last year, he went one better by sticking with the pacemaker and establishing a huge lead to win in his best time of 2:07:57.