FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
World Marathon Majors: Excitement runs high after
Irina Mikitenko's win in Berlin
Irina Mikitenko has gone into the lead in the second season of the World
Marathon Majors (WMM) 2007-2008 with her victory in the real, - BERLIN
MARATHON. The German now has 65 points after a fantastic race in the German
capital where she won in 2:19:19 , making her the fourth fastest female
marathoner of all time and taking her into equal first place alongside Gete
Wami ( Ethiopia ) for the season. Mikitenko has also taken the lead for the
third WMM Series in 2008-2009 with 50 points from two races. The
36-year-old had a surprise win in the Flora London Marathon in April and
was second in Berlin a year ago.
In the men's rankings Haile Gebrselassie, who improved his own world record
with 2:03:59 in Berlin, has moved up to third with 50 points for the
2007-2008 season. But the Ethiopian has no chance of winning the overall
WMM title. The Kenyan Martin Lel leads with 76 points and the only man who
could overtake him is his compatriot Robert K. Cheruiyot, depending on
whether the latter wins in Chicago or New York . But so far he has made no
announcement about running either of those races on 12 October or 2
November. Haile Gebrselassie certainly has excellent prospects for the
2008-2009 season. He has 25 points, the same as Robert K. Cheruiyot, behind
the Kenyan pair of Sammy Wanjiru (40 points) and Martin Lel (26).
The World Marathon Majors (WMM) brings together the best big city marathon
races in the world (Flora London, Boston, real, - Berlin, Bank of America
Chicago and ING New York City-Marathon) which have put up prize money of
one million dollars (US) for each of the WMM Series to be shared by the
winning man and woman. A win in a WMM race is worth 25 points while fifth
place earns one point. The marathon races at the World Championships and
Olympic Games are also included in the series.
A really exciting contest is developing in the women's competition for the
second season of 2007-2008. Gete Wami must finish second or better in New
York to improve her points' total for the season. The Ethiopian has already
taken maximum points from four races so finishing third, fourth or fifth
would not benefit her. She was second in London in 2007, first in Berlin in
2007, second in New York in 2007 and third in London 2008.
There still remain the Chinese Chunxiu Zhou and Catherine Ndereba of Kenya
who, if they win in Chicago or New York, could overhaul the rest and take
the lead. However, after winning medals in the Olympic Marathon (silver for
Ndereba, bronze for Zhou), neither has made any announcement about entering
either of these races.
If the women's competition should finish with Mikitenko and Wami level on
points, then the win-loss ratio would be taken into account: even this
would not produce a result since the Ethiopian finished ahead of the German
in Berlin a year ago and the positions were reversed in London . At
present, factors such as how many races runners have done to achieve their
points' total, how far in front of one another they've finished in terms of
places or time in the relevant WMM races are not in the WMM rules. It would
be up to the race directors to work out how they decide the winner.
Complete WMM Series leaderboards can be found at worldmarathonmajors.com.
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