FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BMW BERLIN-MARATHON:
Kenenisa Bekele after winning Berlin: "I proved what I can do"
It was one of the best duels in marathon history and with his victory
Kenenisa Bekele proved himself once and for all that he is a world class
performer at the distance. The 34-year-old Ethiopian's win in 2:03:03 in
the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON on Sunday, a mere six seconds outside the world
record, was the second fastest ever on an officially approved course and
the fastest in the world this year. It also gave Bekele particular
satisfaction in making him the Ethiopian record holder. That honour had
belonged to another legend of distance running, Haile Gebrselassie, who
broke the world record here in Berlin with 2:03:59 in 2008.
Given Sunday's performance, the world record of 2:02:57, set by Kenya's
Dennis Kimetto in Berlin two year ago, is very much within Bekele's reach.
Opinions were divided beforehand whether Kenenisa Bekele could produce such
a strong performance since the previous races in his marathon career had
been an emotional rollercoaster. He made his debut in Paris in 2014 with a
speedy 2:05:04, a time which Bekele described in the week before Berlin as
"slow, compared to the top runners." He didn't exactly make headlines with
fourth place in Chicago six months later, clocking 2:05:51 and failed to
finish Dubai in January 2015.
A return of the achilles injury which had troubled him for so long left the
5 and 10,000m world record holder operating on an apparently restricted
training regime but he made an impressive return with third place in
2:06:36 in London in April 2016. To his dismay, this wasn't enough to
convince the Ethiopian selectors that he was worth a place in the Olympic
marathon team for Rio.
Three times on Sunday, Wilson Kipsang, the eventual runner-up in his own
personal best of 2:03:13, led by between 5 and 25 metres, yet every time
Kenenisa Bekele fought back to draw level. Was he surprised to be able to
call on such reserves? "No, I knew I had trained well and what I could run.
Between 25 and 35 kilometres I had a few problems but I knew what my
strengths were," reflected Bekele.
When Kenenisa Bekele turned to the marathon in the spring of 2014, he had
two major targets in mind: the world record and winning the Olympic
marathon in the summer of 2016 in Rio. He showed in Berlin on Sunday that
he is capable of breaking the world record. Bekele is sure he can run
faster than 2:03:03. "The race was fantastic but I must make a couple of
changes in training," he said, having made sure he had his own
physiotherapist accompany him from Addis Abeba to Berlin.
Achieving his second goal, that of winning the Olympic marathon title,
appears to be less likely. Rio would certainly have been his best chance.
"I believe the selectors understand now why I complained at the time at not
being selected. I've proved what I can do by this race in Berlin," said
Kenenisa Bekele. But his manager Jos Hermens believes there may still be a
chance of fulfilling his Olympic dream: "In 2020 Kenenisa will be 38 - why
not? You should never give up. I see a career as being like a candle which,
of course, at some stage goes out. But in recent years Kenenisa's has not
been burning much."
In the short term Kenenisa Bekele is giving serious consideration to
running the World Championships in London next year. "If the federation
select me, I'll run the World Championships in London."
More information is available online at: www.berlin-marathon.com
###
|
