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World class Ethiopian Quartet target top honours in BMW BERLIN-MARATHON
Four world-class Ethiopian runners have set their sights on breaking the
recent Kenyan dominance when the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON takes place on
September 29: Guye Adola, who finished second in an unofficial world record
debut two years ago in Berlin, as well as Leul Gebrselassie, Sisay Lemma
and Birhanu Legese all possess the potential to win the BMW
BERLIN-MARATHON. Gebrselassie, Lemma and Legese have each triumphed over
the marathon distance in the past ten months, running top-class times and
all have personal bests in the region of 2:04.
"We expect a men's race with top performances. There's not much likelihood
of a world record attempt but the times are likely to be very fast. In
addition, the battle for victory could be a thrilling one that may well
lasts until the final few kilometres," said the race director Mark Milde,
who is still recruiting more top performers.
In the past ten years Ethiopian runners have only won the men's title in
Germany's most spectacular marathon on two occasions. Haile Gebrselassie
won in 2009 and Kenenisa Bekele in 2016. Otherwise Kenyans have dominated,
breaking the world record four times. The most recent occasion was last
year when Eliud Kipchoge ran a sensational 2:01:39 but he will not be
running this year.
Birhanu Legese is the one runner among the Ethiopian quartet who has won an
Abbott World Marathon Majors race this year. The 24-year-old took the title
in Tokyo in March with 2:04:48 in only the third marathon of his career. In
2018 he made a spectacular debut with 2:04:15 in Dubai which put him
straightaway among the marathon world-class. Even so, his time was only
good enough for sixth in an extraordinary fast race. Last autumn he
finished tenth in Chicago in 2:08:41. Legese has already won one big race
in Berlin, emerging as the surprise winner of the city's Half Marathon with
59:45 in 2015.
Two more of the quartet for Berlin on September 29 were in action in Dubai
2018 and ran their personal bests there: Leul Gebrselassie and Sisay Lemma.
Gebrselassie is not related to the former marathon world record holder and
multiple Berlin winner Haile, but has strong credentials of his own,
finishing runner-up in 2:04:02 in the race in the United Arab Emirates 18
months ago. That also was a sensational debut at the distance. At the start
of December the 25-year-old confirmed his ability in setting a course
record of 2:04:31 to win the Valencia Marathon. In April this year he
finished eighth in London's traditionally highly competitive field.
Sisay Lemma improved his best by a big margin to 2:04:08 to finish fifth in
Dubai in 2018. At the end of last October the 28-year-old produced another
fine performance to break the course record in Ljubljana with 2:04:58.
Three years ago he was fourth in the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON with 2:06:56. He
marked 2015 with victories in Vienna and Frankfurt marathons.
Guye Adola has every reason to have fond memories of Berlin on his return
to the race. Two years ago the 28-year-old ran an unofficial world record
debut to finish second in 2:03:46 - official world records for marathon
debuts are not given. He even managed to put a superstar such as Eliud
Kipchoge under pressure, leading until just before 40k from the Kenyan.
Since that debut the Half Marathon World Championship bronze medallist in
2014 has struggled with injuries but Adola intends to put all that behind
him at the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON this year.
The BMW BERLIN-MARATHON forms the Abbott World Marathon Majors (AWMM) along
with Tokyo, Boston, London, Chicago and New York. For the first time the
BMW BERLIN-MARATHON on September 29 will mark the final race in the current
series. Further information can be obtained at the race website:
www.bmw-berlin-marathon.com
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