From: Biniam Haile \(SWE\) (eritrea.lave@comhem.se)
Date: Wed Apr 22 2009 - 17:33:52 EDT
Excerpt: "Sunday's race will mark a first marathon for Eritrean Zersenay
Tadese, described by the news conference co-ordinator Tim Hutchings as
"the most exciting debut in London, perhaps in the world".
Tadese, 27, won Eritrea's first Olympic medal with his third place in
the 2004 Athens Games 10,000 metres. He defeated Ethiopia's Kenenisa
Bekele in the 2007 world cross country championships and won the world
half-marathon championship later in the same year."
Olympic marathon champion targets world record
Wednesday, 22nd April 2009
London
Olympic champion Sammy Wanjiru has targeted the men's world record in
the London marathon on Sunday (0845 GMT) if conditions are favourable
and the pace fast.
"My target is to break the world record," Wanjiru told a news conference
on Wednesday. "Maybe on Sunday if the conditions and the pacemakers are
right."
Kenyans Elijah Kitani and John Kales are the designated pacemakers in
the men's elite race and they have been asked to keep the field on two
hours four minutes pace for 32 km of the 42.195 km race through the
streets of London.
The current world record of 2:03:59 was set by Ethiopian Haile
Gebrselassie in Berlin last year.
Wanjiru, 22, became the first Kenyan athlete to win the Olympic marathon
when he clocked a Games record 2:06:32 in oppressively hot weather in
Beijing last year.
He tuned up for this year's race by setting a Spanish all-comers record
of 59:26 to win the Granollers half-marathon on Feb. 4, breaking
Gebrselassie's previous mark.
Wanjiru, who attended high school in Japan after winning a scholarship,
said he thought the world record could eventually be reduced to two
hours.
Superb Field
Race director Dave Bedford has assembled a superb men's field with
Kenyan Martin Lel aiming to become the first man to win the world's
premier marathon for the fourth time in a row.
Early last year Lel was forced to relocate to Namibia to train following
the political violence which erupted in Kenya. After winning the London
race he caught malaria and was able to train for a month only before
Beijing, where he helped Wanjiru set the pace before fading to fifth.
"What makes London unique is that you are racing against champions,
champions of the world, Olympic champions," Lel said.
He was scheduled to have a scan on his hip later on Wednesday after
suffering a slight strain in training.
Sunday's race will mark a first marathon for Eritrean Zersenay Tadese,
described by the news conference co-ordinator Tim Hutchings as "the most
exciting debut in London, perhaps in the world".
Tadese, 27, won Eritrea's first Olympic medal with his third place in
the 2004 Athens Games 10,000 metres. He defeated Ethiopia's Kenenisa
Bekele in the 2007 world cross country championships and won the world
half-marathon championship later in the same year.
A former national cycling champion before turning to athletics after
problems with his national federation, Tadese would not predict a likely
time on Sunday.
"I am happy with my preparations," he said. " I want 2:05, 2:06. We will
see."
Reuters
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