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Haile Gebrselassie ran to his first marathon victory in Amsterdam, but missed
clearly the world record at the end. He ran 2:06:20 hours, which
is a new Ethiopian record, course record and world lead as well. He
improved his personal best by 15 seconds and the course record by three
seconds. Haile Gebrselassie improved the world lead, set last week by Felix
Limo in Chicago (2:07:02), by 42 seconds. He is now the only runner who
ran the marathon sub 2:07 this year.
But the big goal was out of reach. The world record of Paul Tergat was
untouched. The Kenyan, who is a permanent rival of Haile Gebrselassie, set
the world record of 2:04:55 at the
real,- Berlin Marathon two years ago.
With a big winning gap Haile Gebrselassie reached the finish in the Amsterdam
Olympic Stadium. Daniel Yego finished second in
2:08:58 hours, third was the Ethiopian Tesfaye Tola in 2:09:17. There was another Ethiopian victory in the
women’s race. The clearly slower race compared to the men’s race was won
by Kutre Dulecha in 2:30:06 hours ahead
of Kristijna Loonen (Holland/2:34:08). 6,477 runners from 55 nations were
running in good weather conditions. With a bright blue sky, the race was
started at 11 am in the
Olympic stadium. The temperatures increased to 16 degrees. Only the wind was
sometimes baffling the runners.
Haile Gebrselassie was running protected and leaded by a whole group of pace
makers. Right from the start a fast race developed. The group reached the
5- and 10 k marks in 14:49 minutes and
29:39 minutes. Due to a tail wind in the next phase of the race it was
getting even faster. The 15 k split was 44:06 minutes and the half marathon
62:03.Everything looked like the world record being broken. But
already in the next 5 kilometers the first doubts came. The five k from 20
k (58:49) to 25 k (1:13:57) was 15:08 minutes and notably slower. Additionally there
were only three runners left in the lead. At 25 k the last pace maker Francis
Kiprop (Kenya) dropped out
to early for a world record hunt.
Daniel Yego was running next to Gebrselassie until shortly before
the 30 k mark. But he couldn’t pace at this phase of the race anymore. He had
to concentrate to finish with a good time himself.
Contrary to Paul Tergat, who was lead by his training fellows Titus Munji and
Sammy Korir for almost the whole race, Haile Gebrselassie had to run the last
twelve k alone. At the 30 and 35 k points he was still faster compared to
Paul Tergat, with 1:28:57 and 1:43:50 (by 27 and nine seconds). But while the
Kenyan had run from 30 to 40 k in 29:12 minutes in Berlin, the
Ethiopian needed 30:18 minutes.
In the end Haile Gebrselassie missed the record and the
related bonus of
250,000 Euro. “I am satisfied with my time nevertheless,” said Haile
Gebrselassie, who earned a total of 100.000 Euro and added: “The last
five kilometers
were very hard. I haven’t been able to increase the pace. Furthermore I
got
stitches. Until 35 k I was feeling very well. I think I have to train
even harder for a marathon.” In the first phase of the race the
runners had a tail wind, but in the second half it was the other way
around. “I
don’t think I ran the first half too fast. 62 minutes are okay for me,”
said
Haile Gebrselassie.
While the men’s race was living from the thrilling world record hunt,
the
decision about the winner in the women’s race fell early: Kutre
Dulecha
was leading right from the start. After 69:22 minutes she reached
the
first half and already was two minutes ahead of Kristijna
Loonen. With 2:30:06 hours the 27 year old winner set a new
personal
best. “I am happy about this victory and my new personal best. The
course is
fast, but the wind was hard,” translated Haile Gebrselassie later at
the press
conference for his countrywomen.
Results:
Men:
1. Haile Gebrselassie ETH 2:06:20
2. Daniel Yego KEN 2:08:58
3. Tesfaye Tola ETH 2:09:17
4. Bernard Barmasai KEN 2:10:52
5. George Okworo KEN 2:11:49
6. Andrew Limo KEN 2:12:13
7. Jamal Baligha MOR 2:15:22
8. Sander Schutgens NED 2:17:53
Women:
1. Kutre Dulecha ETH 2:30:06
2. Kristijna Loonen NED 2:34:08
3. Sue Harrison GBR 2:38:25
4. Charne Rademeyer RSA 2:39:26
5. A. Bekele ETH 2:41:40
6. Annemari Sandell FIN 2:43:23