Mosinet Geremew, world marathon runner-up, became the second Ethiopian this Sunday to win the Seoul marathon by winning in a time of 2h04: 43 his compatriot Herpasa Negasa (2h04: 47) and Brazilian Daniel Ferreira do Nascimento, who recognized the best mark of all time achieved by an athlete born outside Africa: 2h04: 51, a new record in South America.
Do Nascimento, 23, broke the area record held by his compatriot Ronaldo da Costa since September 20, 1998when he set a world record in Berlin with 2:06:50.
In the all-time world rankings, ahead of Do Nascimento there are only two athletes from non-African countries (the Belgian Bashir Abdi, fourteenth with 2:03:36, and the Turkish Kaan Kigen Ozbilen, twentieth nine with 2:04: 16, but they were both born in Africa, Somalia and Kenya, respectively.
The new South American record holder moved into the marathon last year. He made his debut in Lima in a time of 2:09:05, qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and a week later he was declared the South American champion of the 10,000 meters in Guayaquil (Ecuador) with a time of 29 : 18.
At the Sapporo Do Nascimento Olympic Marathon, he caught the attention of the cameras when he marched to the front group and exchanged greetings with world number one, Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge., with whom he trained for several months in Kenya. A muscle injury pushed him to leave Sapporo midway through the race, but in December he recovered from the race in Valencia, where he qualified for eleventh with a time of 2:06:11.
Geremew, 30, won in Seoul with a new record for the South Korean race, which is in its 76th edition, beating the 2h05: 13 mark of Kenyan -now South Korean- Wilson Etupe. He started with the best score of the participants (2h02: 55, fourth of all time) and fulfilled the predictions.
The Ethiopian athlete finished on the podium in eight of the nine marathons he ran. In 2019 he was second only to London behind Kipchoge.
In the women’s category, victory went to Kenyan Joan Chelimo with a time of 2h18: 04, a personal record, followed by Ethiopian Sutume Asefa (2h18: 02) and Bahraini Eunice Chumba Kiplatat, born in Kenya, who credited at 2h20: 02.
Source: La Verdad
I am Ida Scott, a journalist and content author with a passion for uncovering the truth. I have been writing professionally for Today Times Live since 2020 and specialize in political news. My career began when I was just 17; I had already developed a knack for research and an eye for detail which made me stand out from my peers.
