FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The King of the Runners Kenenisa Bekele at the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON
On September 29, the elite of the marathon world will be at the BMW
BERLIN-MARATHON. With the Ethiopian world class runners Guye Adola, Leul
Gebrselassie, Sisay Lemma and Birhanu Legese, the men's race is strongly
loaded (see press release from July 23). For the women, last year's winner
Gladys Cherono will face Vivian Cheruiyot, who will be competing for the
first time at the BMW BERLIN MARATHON (see press release from June 25). And
now another top athlete has committed.
Kenenisa Bekele is considered to be the king of the runners. You have to
work hard to achieve such a title. But with the Ethiopian, he was on the
right course from the very beginning. The exceptional athlete was born in
Bekoji. The town is located about 100 kilometres southeast of Addis Ababa
and is home to many famous athletes. That is a great environment for
getting started. Kenenisa started winning numerous cross and road races as
a junior. During the 2003 World Cup, Bekele ousted his compatriot Haile
Gebrselassie from his running throne, beating him to win the 10,000m race.
He followed with an unprecedented career with diverse successes, from the
African Championships to the Olympic Games. Bekele has acquired 16 world
championship titles, and has held the world records for the 5,000m and
10,000m races for an unbelievable 15 years. Berlin's athletics fans are
likely to remember his remarkable victories in these events at the 2009
Athletics World Championships in the Olympic Stadium. So far, his career
has been glorious and sovereign. Then there is this 42.195k race. In 2014,
Kenenisa Bekele promptly set a course record at his marathon debut in Paris
with a time of 2:05:03 hours. Since then, the running world has been
anxiously waiting for him to destroy the world record.
At his BMW BERLIN-MARATHON victory in 2016, he almost succeeded. With a
time of 2:03:03 hours, he was just a few seconds over the world record. In
2017, he was ready to take it down at the Dubai Marathon. But instead of
felling the world record, he fell himself, when he was tripped up by
another runner. In the autumn of the same year, the Ethiopian was back at
the starting line in the capital, but did not finish. On September 29,
Bekele will be tackling the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON for the third time. At age
37, it's time for him to grasp the marathon crown. It should be an exciting
race, as Kenenisa Bekele is known to be really strong "from the back".
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
Online Media accreditation
Online accreditation is possible until 6th September. Thereafter at BMW
BERLIN-MARATHON mediacenter (Hotel InterContinental Berlin, Budapester
Strasse 2). Please note that in case of a later accreditation we can not
meet all wishes regarding access to special areas.
The accreditation entitles you to enter certain areas of the event grounds
within the framework of your reporting and research at the MARATHON EXPO
and the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON. Appropriately credentialed media is allowed to
attend all press conferences and use the media center's facilities during
operating hours. We provide a comfortable, full-service indoor location
including workspace, wifi and power stations. It is fully staffed by SCC
EVENTS media representatives. Race-Day services include large-format direct
feeds of the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON broadcast, real-time race updates, split
and finish times printouts and the post-race press conference.
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