Eliud Kipchoge insists he will only be persuaded to retire when he sees the whole world lacing up their trainers.

The Kenyan, 40, is the final marquee athlete announced to compete in this year’s London Marathon, an event he has won a record four times in the elite men’s category.

Kipchoge took some time to reset after failing to finish a marathon for the first time in his career at the Paris 2024 Olympics, but now feels he’s ready to challenge the world’s best in April.

Asked if his sixth attempt at London could be the capping-off of his storied career, Kipchoge replied: “No. I will speak more when I finish the marathon. Now I’m focusing on training, purely on fitness and my muscles to be ready for the start line in London.

“I don’t like to mix some things. I learn to put all my mind on the road, put all my mind on making sure my muscles are lean and ready to combat the London streets. And the rest will come.”

Kipchoge claimed Olympic marathon gold at the Rio 2016 and postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics, and a tremendous 11 career wins at Abbott World Marathon Majors events – the highest tier in the world.

His four wins in London came during an unbeaten stretch from 2015 to 2019 – Kipchoge skipped the 2017 edition – before an ear infection contributed to an eighth-place finish in 2020.

Kipchoge will take on a tough field, including Ethiopian Olympic marathon gold medallist Tamirat Tola and defending London Marathon champion Alexander Mutiso Munyao of Kenya.

His British challengers include Emile Cairess, last year’s bronze medallist, who narrowly missed the podium in Paris, and Olympic triathlon gold medallist Alex Yee, making his competitive marathon debut.

“Yes I still think I can compete,” said Kipchoge. “I’m training in a good way and I can compete with the youngest people. It’s a huge inspiration to see people at a younger age running, training hard, racing in a hard way.

“All in all you should know that longevity is the key. There is no shortcut. If you want to be a real, real professional runner, then longevity should actually be inside your bucket list. And that’s what I’m telling the young people.”

Asked when he would retire, Kipchoge would only say: “When you convince me that the world has become a running world I will retire. when you have four billion people running every day I will retire”.

Kipchoge hopes to share a meal or a coffee with 26-year-old Yee, who has named the Kenyan as one of his heroes.

“I’ll tell him what I believe about running and why running will actually help the whole world,” said Kipchoge.  “So I think the discussion will actually be about humanity, about the love of sport that is running. I think it will be a pure discussion.”

In 2019, Kipchoge became the first human to run sub-two hours in a marathon distance at 1:59:40.2, but the feat could not count as a world record as the event and setup were not ratified by World Athletics.

The official world record of 2:00:35 was set in 2023 by fellow Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum, who died in a car crash last February.

Kipchoge has ruled himself out of the LA 2028 Olympics, but says he is planning on spearheading some sort of new experiment, but said his lips are sealed until he crosses the finish line in London.

He added: “I’ll do something which brings a huge, huge impact before I leave.

“In Africa we say we are chasing one rabbit at a time. This rabbit is on the road in front of me is London marathon, which is what I am putting purely all my mind, my heart, my energy is on.

“After that I’ll make a new announcement. Keep watching.”