Jacob Kiplimo breaks the world record for the half marathon in Barcelona with a time of 56min 42sec. Photograph: Europa Press News/Europa Press/Getty Images

Hugh Brasher, the London Marathon race director, certainly thinks so but the Ugandan faces stiff competition from Eliud Kipchoge and Tamirat Tola

Earlier this year Jacob Kiplimo produced a performance so staggering that it sent the jaws of even seasoned track and field watchers crashing to the floor.

It came on the streets of Barcelona, where the 24-year-old Ugandan covered 13.1 miles in 56min 42sec – a half marathon time 48 seconds quicker than anyone else in history.

Little more than two months later, Kiplimo is in London for his full marathon debut and the noise has only grown louder.

Could he break the world record on Sunday? Could he even become the first man to break two hours in an official race? It is speculation that the event director, Hugh Brasher, is more than happy to stoke.

“I think it’s going to be the most fascinating debut ever,” he says. “Is it feasible that he could take Kelvin Kiptum’s record as the fastest debutant? Without a doubt.

Do I think he could one day be the athlete that runs under two hours? Yes. But let’s see what happens on Sunday.”

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Kiplimo was regarded as a superstar in waiting even before he competed over 5,000m as a 15-year-old prodigy at the 2016 Rio Olympics. He had a humble upbringing on a farm in Kween, 1,500m above sea level on the Mount Elgon volcano.

But, because his father had three wives, he had many older half-brothers to run with – including Robert Chemonges and Victor Kiplangat, both of whom have gone on to be sub 2hr 10min marathoners – and soon proved to be something special.

“We were helping our brothers, the big brothers,” he says. “They were running and we kept seeing them when they were training.

And one day, I tell them: ‘I want to become like you.’ So I just kept training, training. This was when I was around 10 or 11.”

A few years later Kiplimo was spotted and brought to Italy to train for the 2016 Olympics.

“Afterwards my coach, Giuseppe Giambrone, said to me: ‘You will be one of the greatest runners in the world,’” says Kiplimo. “It ended in the semi-finals. But it was a huge experience for me to be at the Olympics.”

Kiplimo’s staggering performances as a 15-year-old included running the 5,000m in 13min 19.54sec and the 10,000m in 27:26.28 – all in the era before supershoes.

But despite going on to win two senior world cross country titles as well as Olympic and world 10,000m bronze medals, his lack of a devastating sprint finish ended up hurting him on the track.

On the roads it has so far been a different story.

But on Sunday he faces the moment of truth against one of the greatest London Marathon fields ever assembled.

It includes Eliud Kipchoge, the greatest of all time, the Olympic champion Tamirat Tola, last year’s winner Alexander Mutiso and the well-fancied Sabastian Sawe, a late bloomer at 30 who ran 2:02.05 to win the Valencia Marathon in December, the second-fastest debut in history.

British eyes, meanwhile, will also be focused on Olympic triathlon gold medallist Alex Yee, who hopes to run around 2:09 in his debut over 26.2 miles.

“I am ready to compete,” says Kiplimo, who reveals that he feels much stronger having gone from running around 75-90 miles a week during his track career to more like 125-135 for the marathon.

Jacob Kiplimo in action at the world cross country championships in 2024. Photograph: Đorđe Kojadinović/Reuters

The leading pack is likely to go through halfway in 61 minutes, giving scope for Kiplimo to run a negative split and chase down Kiptum’s world record of 2:00.35. A following wind for the second half of the race will help, although the forecast may be a little warm.

When asked whether he could one day break two hours for the marathon, Kiplimo is cautious – at least for now. “Yes, of course,” he says. “Maybe in the future. But I’m just focusing on my debut.

If this one goes well, then maybe I will be the guy to make it.”

Inevitably, Kiplimo’s record-breaking times have aroused some suspicion – especially given the number of east Africans who have been caught doping over the past decade.

In online forums, it is also noted that his agents, Rosa and Associati, have had previous clients test positive for EPO – including the 2016 Olympic marathon champion, Jemima Sumgong, and Rita Jeptoo, who won twice in Boston.

Those cases led to Frederico Rosa being investigated by the Kenyan government in 2016, before all charges were dropped.

Afterwards, Rosa’s lawyer insisted that the government did “not have an iota of evidence against my client” and Kiplimo promises that he and his team can be trusted.