Ethiopian double at Berlin Marathon

BERLIN • Guye Adola won the Berlin Marathon yesterday with fellow Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, a two-time former winner here, finishing third as his bid to break the world record fell short.

History was not made at the same flat inner-city course where Tokyo Games gold medallist Eliud Kipchoge's mark of 2hr 1min 39sec was set three years ago.

However, there was still enough suspense and excitement before Adola crossed the finish line just past the iconic Brandenburg Gate in an official time of 2:05:45 for the biggest win of his career.

Kenya's Bethwel Yegon finished 29 seconds behind in second.

Bekele, the 2016 and 2019 Berlin winner, had been attempting to break his personal best after coming within two agonising seconds of Kipchoge's time two years ago.

He fell well short, perhaps due to the fact this was his first competition in 18 months and coming just nine months after struggling with a Covid-19 infection as he finished 1min 2sec behind Adola.

But the 39-year-old, one of the greatest runners of all time who has won both world and Olympic gold medals over 5,000m and 10,000m, will not give up on his dream to surpass Kenya's Kipchoge.

Bekele said: "My plan is not only to break the world record before I retire. Everybody is talking about sub-two hours, so why not?

"One day I will try this, I know it's hard work. I feel confident, so let's do it and see.

"If everything goes well, I want to do better things in the future, so I am really confident in my capacity."

The race over 42.195km was the first of the world's six major marathons to take place with elite athletes and a mass field of runners - estimated at around 25,000 - since the pandemic.

The warm temperature of 20 deg C and the brutal tempo took their toll on the early pacesetters but Adola stood strong for the first major marathon win of his career, after finishing second to Kipchoge in Berlin four years ago on his debut.

He said: "The race started off really fast, the leading pack couldn't maintain that pace, so I took my chance to hit the front."

In an Ethiopian treble, Gotytom Gebreslase won the women's race in her debut marathon in 2:20:09, leaving Hiwot Gebrekidan in second place and Helen Tola in third.

Kipchoge is the only man to have run a marathon under two hours - his 1:59:40 mark two years ago was set under non-competitive conditions.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS