The Ethiopian athlete Kenenisa Bekele continue to conflict over time. This Sunday at the London Marathon, at 41 years old, he broke the marathon world record in the M40 category with a wonderful brand of 2h04:15that cut four seconds off the record he himself established last December in Valencia.
It was not enough to win the race, which the Kenyan won Alexander Mutiso Munyao (14 years younger) at 2h04:01. However, he showed that he can still run faster than most marathoners in his country, and that’s a lot.
Kenenisa Bekele and Deresa Geleta are the only Ethiopians to run under 2h05 this year, leaving them with a good chance to represent their country at Olympic Games in Paris.
It was the last chance to run an Olympic marathon for Bekele, who had already won three golds in the 5,000m and 10,000m at the Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 Games.
The Ethiopian Athletics Federation has not yet revealed who the athletes will be going to the Paris Games, although it seems certain that the recent Boston Marathon champion Sisay Lemma be one of them.
Tamirat Tola2022 marathon world champion and winner of the 2023 New York Marathon, was among the favorites in London, but left the race after kilometer 35. The same happened in Dawit Woldewho retired at kilometer 40.
The second best Ethiopian in London is Kinde Atanawwho was in eighth position with a time of 2h10:03, very far from Bekele.
Source: La Verdad
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