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Defending champion Haile Gebrselassie will face strong opposition at the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON on 30th September. There will be another edition of the duel between the Ethiopian super star and the second fastest marathon runner in the world: Sammy Korir (Kenya) finished second at the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON in 2003 with a time of 2:04:56 hours and is therefore exactly one minute faster than Haile Gebrselassie. In 2003 Korir finished only one second behind Paul Tergat (Kenya). Tergat established a marathon world record with a time of 2:04:55 in that race. To break this record is Haile Gebrselassie’s goal for Berlin.

Already last year Gebrselassie and Korir met at the real,- BERLIN MARATHON. However the Kenyan had to give up the race after 26 km due to a hamstring injury. Sammy Korir didn’t run a marathon in spring and is preparing thoroughly for the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON. Last year Korir won the Rotterdam Marathon in a world class time of 2:06:38 hours.

Another former real,- BERLIN MARATHON winner will be joining Gebrselassie: Philip Manyim (Kenya) took the race two years ago in 2:07:41 hours. Furthermore Joseph Riri (Kenya) will run the race again. He finished second two years ago in a great time of 2:06:49 hours. Another Kenyan could be in with a surprise: Bernard Barmasai, the former 3000 m steeplechase world record holder (7:55,72 minutes / 1997 in Cologne), started his marathon career three years ago and so far holds a personal best of 2:08:50 hours.