Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw will be aiming for her third women’s victory in four years at Sunday’s Antrim Coast Half Marathon, which will be broadcast live on BBC iPlayer and the Sport website from 9.30am (BST).

Race director James McIlroy has also lured former London and New York Marathon winner Joyciline Jepkosgei into the women’s field, so Yehualaw may not be able to give her all due to her apparent competitive inactivity on the course in and around Larne.

Yehualaw, now 25, thought she had broken the half marathon world record at the 2021 Northern Ireland race with a time of 63 minutes and 44 seconds, but it later emerged that the course was 54 meters shorter.

Despite this setback, the Ethiopian returned a year later to win with a course record of 64:21. She is aiming for another victory this weekend.

Yehualaw won the London Marathon a few weeks after her second triumph in Larne, but only came eighth in the British capital last April and does not appear to have taken part in any competition since then.

Jepkosgei, 30, finished third in London this year after winning the race in 2021 and finishing second behind Yehualaw 12 months later.

The Kenyan’s impressive record in big city marathons includes a victory in New York five years ago.