38 Year old Haile Gebrselassie to Run 38th 2011 BMW Berlin Marathon
By David Monti
June 17, 2011
(c) 2011 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
Like a money manager who prefers blue chip stocks, race director Mark
Milde decided to go with proven athletic assets when he signed Haile
Gebrselassie and Irina Mikitenko, both 38, to be his headliners for the
38th BMW Berlin Marathon which takes place 100 days from now on Sunday,
September 25. Between them, the two veterans have notched five marathon
victories in the German capital in six starts since 2006, culminating
in two world and two national records.
But Milde is also taking a risk. Both Gebrselassie and Mikitenko have
struggled with injuries over the past two years, and have not shown
their best form. Gebrselassie, who twice set the world record in Berlin
in 2007 and 2008, hasn't finished a marathon in the past 17 months,
dropping out of New York last November at the 25-K mark with knee
trouble, and withdrawing from the Tokyo Marathon last February with an
unrelated knee injury suffered in a fall while training. Mikitenko, the
German record holder for the distance with a 2:19:19 personal best,
dropped out of the 2010 Virgin London Marathon, then finished fifth at
the Bank of America Chicago Marathon the same year before recording a
seventh-place showing at London last April.
Nonetheless, Gebrselassie is beloved in Berlin and his presence in the
race will surely generate media and fan interest for Milde and his new
title sponsor, BMW. The feeling is mutual, the charismatic Ethiopian
said.
"I love the Berlin Marathon," the two-time Olympic gold medallist said
through a news release. "The crowds are fantastic and on a good day
everything is possible on this extremely fast course."
The Berlin formula has been to focus on breaking either the men's or
women's world record, using a heavy dose of pacemaking (eight pacemakers
were used when Gebrselassie set his world record in Berlin in 2007 and
five in 2008). For Milde, and his father Horst before him, that formula
has been a success. Four men's world records have been set in Berlin
since Brazil's Ronaldo Da Costa ran the still-standing South American
record of 2:06:05 in Berlin in 1998 and performed a cartwheel at the
finish line. Since then, Kenya's Paul Tergat (2:04:55, 2003) and
Gebrselassie (2:04:26 in 2007 and 2:03:59 in 2008) have lowered that
mark three times. The women's record has been set twice in Berlin,
first by Kenya's Tegla Loroupe in 1999 (2:20:43) and then by Japan's
Naoko Takahashi in 2001 (2:19:46).
Gebrselassie said he hopes to qualify for the 2012 Olympic Marathon, and
needs a fast time to be selected for what would be his fifth Olympic
Games. He has already competed in four Olympics at the 10,000m,
finishing first in both 1996 and 2000 (in spectacular sprint finishes
against Tergat), then fifth in 2004 and sixth in 2008.
The BMW Berlin Marathon, part of the World Marathon Majors Series,
reached its 40,000 entry limit last February. The 2010 edition of the
event had 34,027 finishers, making it the second largest marathon in
Europe behind London (36,550 finishers). Race winners received 40,000
euros plus time bonuses and undisclosed appearance fees.
LetsRun.com Editor's Note: David Monti is an elite athlete coordinator for the New York City Marathon and helps select its runners.
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