2011 New York City Marathon Results: Geoffrey Mutai Will Be Olympic Favorite

There are only 263 days until the 2012 Olympics begin in London and, with his dominating performance at the 2011 ING New York City Marathon, Geoffrey Mutai will be favored to take home gold. He would be the second straight Kenyan to capture the top medal after Samuel Wanjiru did so in 2008.

Winning in New York was not the first major accomplishment of Mutai's year, though (via Yahoo! News).

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Mutai smashed the New York Marathon course record with a time of two hours, five minutes and six seconds, shattering the old standard of 2:07:43 set by Ethiopia's Tesfaye Jifar in 2001.

Geoffrey Mutai, 29, ran the fastest marathon time ever recorded to win this year's Boston Marathon men's crown in 2:03:02 but the time is not recognized as a world record by the IAAF because of course elevation issues.

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Since 2008, Mutai has won nine of the 12 road races he's entered and finished second in two others. Wins in Boston, New York and Bogota, Colombia are all on his 2011 résumé as well as a Kenyan team victory at the World Cross Country Championships.

It's impossible to find a runner in better form than him right now. Seemingly the only thing between Mutai and an Olympic triumph is an injury. But he'll be sure to limit his schedule over the next couple of months to avoid an unnecessary setback.

Not often does a marathon runner become a popular face at Olympics but, thanks to his recent roll, it wouldn't be surprising to see that change with Mutai.

Hopefully he can continue to improve and challenge the world record in London. That would make the marathon a must-see event, which is something that hasn't been said in quite some time. But that's the type of impact the sport's new star is making.

Yes, marathon, must-see and star were all just used in the same paragraph. Welcome to the Mutai era.