BERLIN
Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto
set a new world record in the Berlin Marathon on Sunday, becoming the
first man to break the 2hr 03min barrier with a run of 2hr 02min 57sec.
It
was the second year running that the record had been broken in Berlin,
the previous mark being the 2:03:23 set over the same course last year
by another Kenyan, Wilson Kipsang.
The performance by
the 30-year-old, a former farmer from western Kenya’s high-altitude Rift
Valley region, delivered a new benchmark in human endurance and
cemented the Kenyans’ total dominance of international road racing.
“As
the race went on, I saw I could do it, I’m delighted to have won,” the
modest Kimetto said after making history and nudging world leading times
close to the mythical 2-hour barrier.
Fastest course
Fastest course
PRE-RACE FAVOURITE
Kimetto,
the pre-race favourite, was part of a seven-man breakaway group after
20km, which included fellow-Kenyans Emmanuel Mutai and Geoffrey
Kamworor.
But he shook off Mutai four kilometres from
home and crossed the line in record time over what is regarded as the
world’s fastest marathon course.
Mutai finished second,
also inside the previous record time with a run of 2:03:13 —
illustrating the depth of Kenya’s talent. Ethiopia’s Abera Kuma a long
way back in third in 2:05:56.
Kimetto hails from the
town of Eldoret — a part of the country that has produced some of the
most dominant distance runners in history and is emerging as the world’s
training capital.
FASTEST MARATHON IN HISTORY
He
was working as a farmer in an impoverished rural area before he took up
running in his mid-20’s, joining the training group of Geoffrey Mutai —
a Boston, Berlin and two-time New York marathon champion and the former
holder of the unofficial world best, a 2:03.02 set in Boston.
His
first major win came in Nairobi’s Half Marathon in 2011, and he went on
to finish second behind his training partner Mutai in the Berlin
Marathon in 2012.
His 2:04.16 was the fastest marathon
debut in history, and notable as he is one of a new breed of Kenyan
road racers who do not have a track pedigree.
In 2013
he won the Tokyo Marathon, setting a course record of 2:06.50, and then
the 2013 Chicago Marathon in a course record of 2:03.45 — where he also
beat Emmanuel Mutai into second place.
No comments:
Post a Comment