Dublin Marathon: Belfast man Stephen Scullion among hopefuls in Sunday's race

Stephen Scullion will be favourite to land the concurrently run Irish Championship in Dublin but will also have designs on challenging for overall victory in the men's race

Tokyo Olympian Stephen Scullion will be among the elite men's hopefuls in Sunday's Dublin Marathon.

Scullion's opponents will include Moroccan Taoufik Allam, who won in Dublin last year in a time of 2:11.30 and has since gone on to run 2:07.43.

Belfast man Scullion, 34, holds the official Irish record with the 2:09.49 he posted in London in 2020.

That performance guaranteed his Tokyo berth although the qualifying mark for the Paris Games is a penal 2:08.10.

Amid the rise in standards, which the arrival of super shoes has played a major role in fostering, World Athletics significantly toughened the marathon qualifying times with the men's standard three minutes and 20 seconds faster than pertained for Tokyo and the women's mark 2:26.50 - two minutes and 40 seconds quicker than last time round.

As was the case before Tokyo, there is another route to Paris which will enable athletes who secure top-five finishes in one of the globe's 14 platinum marathons, which include the likes of London, New York, Chicago and Berlin, to earn qualification.

Legendary Treacy is official starter

Scullion achieved that very feat by finishing fifth at the Houston Marathon in 2020 in a then personal best time of 2:11.52 which was outside the Olympic standard.

1984 Olympic silver medallist John Treacy has posted the fastest marathon time by an Irishman but that mark of 2:09.15 set in Boston in 1988 is not considered the national record because the course was not deemed legal.

Interestingly, the legendary Treacy will be the official starter at 08:40 GMT on Sunday morning, 30 years after his sole Dublin victory when he clocked 2:14.40.

As ever, the Dublin race also doubles as the Irish championship, which Scullion secured in 2019 when he clocked a then personal best of 2:12.01 to finish second overall.

Scullion has not run a marathon since clocking 2:14.31 in Rotterdam 18 months ago when he suffered badly in the closing stages after having to borrow a pair of ill-fitting shoes when his did not comply with race rules.

The Belfast man said afterwards that he had been on course to set another Irish record before his feet began to feel numb in the closing stages.

Florence Kiplagat won the Berlin Marathon in 2011 and 2013 and triumphed in Chicago in 2015 and 2016

In terms of depth, Sunday's women's elite field is arguably stronger at the top end with twice Chicago and Berlin winner Kenya's Florence Kiplagat taking on last year's victor Ethiopia's Nigist Muluneh.

At 36, Kiplagat may not be quite the athlete she was in 2011 when she set her personal best of 2:19.44 in Berlin, with her second victory in the German capital coming in 2013 before her 2015 and 2016 Chicago triumphs.

However, Muluneh, 26, clocked 2:28.32 to win in Dublin 12 months ago and with the Ethiopia's personal best 2:27.41, 2009 World Cross Country champion and 2010 World Half Marathon winner Kiplagat may fancy her chances of earning another city marathon success.

Strabane-based Ann-Marie McGlynn will hope to secure the Irish national title in the women's race by reversing last year's placings with Courtney McGuire, who clocked 2:32.52 on her marathon debut to finish 55 seconds ahead of the Offaly-born athlete.

McGuire was reported to have been forced out of the event by injury earlier this week but now appears to be back among the entries.

McGlynn, now 43, set her personal best of 2:29.34 in 2021, which was an agonising four seconds outside the Tokyo Olympics qualifying mark.