Gebrselassie Breaks World Marathon Record Again

Ethiopia's marathon runner Haile Gebrselassie and Germany's Irina Mikitenko pose for the media after the 35th Berlin Marathon. Gebrselassie clocked 2:03.59

Note by KC: Wow! Running a full marathon in 2 hrs 3 min 59 sec! This is really an incredible feat. For most runners, we could only complete half the distance after two hours. I read that he did not run in the Beijing 2008 Olympic for fear that the polluted air may affect his asthma problem. And for the Berlin marathon, he suffered calf injury before the race. Yet with all these obstacles, he made it!

Why does a champion run faster than us? The reason is very simple (this is what I read): the champion puts in more effort (in the training) than us !!

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Runners gather to start in front of Brandenburg gate during the 35th Berlin marathon.

BERLIN (AFP) — Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie was delighted to put his recent calf injury behind him to break his own world record on Sunday at the Berlin Marathon for the second consecutive year in the German capital.

The 35-year-old brushed off a calf injury he suffered in training two weeks ago to come home in a time of 2hrs 03min 59sec.

He took nearly half a minute off his own previous world record of 2hrs 04mins 26sec set here twelve months ago to fulfill his own confident pre-race prediction of setting a new best mark.

This was the sixth time the world record has been broken in Berlin on the traditionally flat course.
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Haile Gebrselassie crosses the finish line to set a new world record at the 35th Berlin marathon.

"I am so, so happy, everything was perfect, the weather was perfect, the spectators were perfect, everything - I am so happy" said the Ethiopian.

"Two weeks ago I had a bit of a problem with my calf muscle, but I took a week off.

"It gave me a few worries coming here, but I forgot about it as the race wore on.
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A Japanese runner quenching her thirst during the race

"I knew before I came here I could do something special, if you look from the beginning, everyone in Berlin seems to come and watch the race, it's a wonderful feeling."

The twice Olympic 5000m champion has plenty of reasons to be happy.
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A runner stretches at a Berlin Wall memorial before the start of the 35th Berlin marathon

As well as breaking the 26th world record of his career he will receive 50,000 euros (73,000 US dollars) for winning on top of his estimated 250,000 euros (365,000 US dollars) fee for racing here.

It was his sixth victory in his ninth marathon and this was the 35th Berlin marathon.

Kenya's James Kwambai finished second in a time of 2hrs 5mins 36secs and his compatriot Charles Kamathi was third in 2hrs 7mins 48 secs.
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Irina Mikitenko of Germany reacts crossing the finish line in the women's race at the 2008 Berlin marathon. Mikitenko clocked in an unofficial time of 2:19:19.

Germany's Irina Mikitenko, who won the London Marathon earlier this year, won the women's race in a time of 2hrs 19mins 18secs which was a personal best and the fastest time in the world this year.
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Germany's Irina Mikitenko waves during the winning ceremony for the 35th Berlin Marathon.

Extracted from AFP

Posted by KC