The 35-year-old is chasing a third victory at the race, which will get the new Abbott World Marathon Majors series underway.

Keitany, the second fastest woman of all-time, claimed the women's only world record of 2 hours 17min 42sec, held by Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, could be at risk if the main contenders for victory work together.

Radcliffe's absolute best of 2:15:25 was set with male pacemakers, which is considered a mixed gender mark.

"I’ve trained enough, I’m ready to race on Sunday," Keitany, the 2011 and 2012 winner, said.

"If the weather is fine for us, and we cooperate, I think we will run a great time.

“Cooperation means working with the pacemakers, and if we make sure that one person doesn’t go it alone, we will run well.”

Keitany will be joined by fellow Kenyans Florence Kiplagat and Vivian Cheruyiot, with the pair both chasing their first victory on the London streets.

Another Kenyan and last year’s winner, Jemima Sumgong, will not be on the start line after it was announced earlier this month that she had failed a drug test for erythropoietin.

Ethiopia’s Tigist Tufa will seek a second London Marathon triumph, having won the event in 2015.

Her compatriots Mare Dibaba, Tirunesh Dibaba, Aselefech Mergia and Aberu Kebede could also be ones to watch at the head of the field.

British athletes will be targeting selection for the World Athletics Championships, due to take place in London in August, with Charlotte Purdue and Jo Pavey among the hopefuls.

Ethiopia and Kenya are also expected to dominate the men’s race with Kenenisa Bekele among the favourites to claim victory.

The Ethiopian, a triple Olympic champion on the track, is the second fastest man of all-time having missed out on the world record of 2:02:57, set by Kenya's Dennis Kimetto in 2014, at last year’s Berlin Marathon by six seconds.

The world 5,000 and 10,000 metres world record holder finished third in London last year, but expects to be challenging for the title this year.

Fellow Ethiopians Tesfaye Abera, Olympic silver medallist Feyisa Lilesa and Tilahun Regassa are also on the start-line.

Kenya’s Stanley Biwott, Abel Kirui and Daniel Wanjiru also expected to be in contention.

Chris Thompson and Scott Overall look set to be the leading British runners in the race as they chase World Championship berths.

A record 40,000 people are expected to start overall, following last year’s record field of 39,523.

Prince Harry and The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will start the men’s elite and mass start race, with this year’s 26.2 mile event seeing the organisers support the Heads Together charity to raise awareness regarding mental health.