Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai claimed his maiden Berlin marathon win with a strong performance and final sprint finish to outpace compatriot Dennis Kimetto. Mutai finished in 2:04:15 with Kimetto only 1 second behind (2:04:16). Incredibly it was Kimetto’s debut competitive marathon and in this performance he has announced himself as another great Kenyan marathon prospect for the World Majors. Geoffrey Kipsang, also competing in his debut marathon, finished 3rd in 2:06:12 to complete the treble for Kenya. In fact Kenyan runners took the top 8 male positions in Berlin with Japanese runners Masakazu Fujiwara & Suehiro Ishikawa rounding out the top 10.
The Kenyans dominated the racing with many predicting an aggressive attempt at the world record (WR) but by 30km the lead group were 30s off the WR pace. This prompted Mutai to increase the pace, splintering the lead pack. A stubborn Kimetto held on and ran on with Mutai, including responding to several surges at 40km. However Mutai was too strong in the final few hundred metres as he kicked away under the iconic Brandenburg gate to finish 1 second in front of Kimetto.
Mutai was very happy with his Berlin marathon win, adding to his impressive list of World Major wins which include the 2011 New York City Marathon (in a course record) and the 2011 Boston Marathon (also in course record). However Mutai failed today in his bid to set a new world record finishing 37seconds behind the mark set by Patrick Makau in Berlin last year.
In the womens race Ethiopia dominated as Aberu Kebebe (2:20:29) convincingly beat compatriot Tirfi Tsegaye (2:21:19) and Ukranian Olena Shurhno (2:23:32) to win her 2nd Berlin marathon. Pre race favourite Kebebe ran a personal best (PB) to outpace training partner Tirfi Tsegaye and win on a warm sunny day in the German capital.
Millions of spectators lined the streets in Berlin on a beautiful sunny 17 degree day to witness the aggressive racing the marathon is famous for. With recent WR’s in 2011 (Makau), and 2007 & 2008 (Gebrselassie) Berlin is renowned as the fastest in the world. Adding to the atmosphere nearly 100 bands lined the course to cheer on the 40,000 runners taking part in this year’s marathon.
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