valencia marathon this sunday

Not a ton of wins to his name? Kebede won London marathon(the deepest marathon in the world) twice, something that neither Gebrsillasie nor Bekele nor even Tergat did even once. He also finished on the podium at least three times apart from the two wins. He is the course record holder of Fukuoka marathon. Won Chicago and was second to the late Sammy Wanjiru in Chicago in 2010 in that epic finish. Was second to Geoffrey Mutai in New York when the latter set the current course record in 2011. In my opinion Kebede is in the top five greatest marathoners ever. And I was/am really excited to see him back running so well. Kenyans think most Ethiopians are not as friendly but Kebede is one of the few exceptions.

watcherr wrote:

Had to do a double-take here, didn't know he was still out there grinding away. Always had a soft spot for him, not a ton of wins to his name but always out there mixing it up. Chicago 2010 getting broken by Wanjiru is what I'll probably always remember about him though, lol.

wejo wrote:

Nice run by Kebede

https://twitter.com/NNRunningTeam/status/1069169365743005696

LRUSer1 wrote:

Lydia Cheromei is 41 years! She had a 2.22.

World Masters Record, I think her 69:33 Half Marathon Split in Yesterdays race may also be the Half Marathon Record, so MAYBE 2 World Records in the SAME race. Hopefully Tuohy has a career as long as Cheromei.

deathinparadise wrote:

Yeah he's really back from the dead !

I don't remember a top guy who'd disappeared come back like that ? Anyone ?

Kebede has run a Marathon EVERY YEAR SINCE 2007, the last 2 years his best was only 2:10.56 in 2016 and 2:08.45 (The slowest yearly best's for him in his career, the only other year he did not break 2:08 was his first year when he ran 2:08.16.

douglas burke wrote:

https://www.iaaf.org/athletes/ethiopia/tsegaye-kebede-238118

Look at Progression for his yearly best's

douglas burke wrote:

deathinparadise wrote:

Yeah he's really back from the dead !

I don't remember a top guy who'd disappeared come back like that ? Anyone ?

Kebede has run a Marathon EVERY YEAR SINCE 2007, the last 2 years his best was only 2:10.56 in 2016 and 2:08.45 (The slowest yearly best's for him in his career, the only other year he did not break 2:08 was his first year when he ran 2:08.16.

By " who'd disappeared" it was obviously meant disappeared from the TOP SPOTS ! The question remains, has any former champion (WR holder or multiple Majors wins/podiums) who underperformed for years (4+ in the case of Kebede since London 2014) ever managed a comeback like he did today ? Not G. Mutai, not Macau, not E.Mutai, not Kimetto (so far at least), etc...

Something good must be happening AGAIN in Morroco! Before this race Morrocan national record was held by the great Jaouad Gharib at 2:05:27 which was set in 2009. After that, no one has come close to that record to date. And before we know it, two Morrocans run faster than Gharib's national record in one race! El Hassan is technically a Bahraini by citizenship, so he will not be credited with the national record. That record goes to Al Mahjoub Dazza who, it appears, was making his debut at the distance here. Is WADA getting boxed in again?

It does look a bit too good to be true...who knows, a miracle maybe ?