Gebrselassie shatters own mark

Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie was delighted to put his recent calf injury behind him to break his own world record at the Berlin Marathon for the second consecutive year.

Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie was delighted to put his recent calf injury behind him to break his own world record at the Berlin Marathon for the second consecutive year.

HT Image

The 35-year-old brushed off a calf injury he suffered in training two weeks ago to come home in a time of 2hours 03minutes 59seconds.

He took nearly half a minute off his own previous world record of 2hours 04minutes 26second set here twelve months ago to fulfil his own confident pre-race prediction of setting a new best mark.

This was the sixth time the world record has been broken in Berlin on the traditionally flat course.

"I am so happy, everything was perfect, the weather was perfect, the spectators were perfect, everything,” said the Ethiopian. "Two weeks ago I had a bit of a problem with my calf muscle, but I took a week off.

"It gave me a few worries coming here, but I forgot about it as the race wore on.