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Patrick Makau of Kenya crossed the finish line to win the 38th Berlin
Marathon on Sunday with
a record-breaking time of 2 hours 3 minutes 38 seconds. |
BERLIN — Patrick Makau of Kenya set a world record on Sunday
by winning the Berlin Marathon on a flat, searing course in 2 hours 3 minutes
38 seconds.
Kenya swept the day with Florence Kiplagat winning the
women’s race in 2:19:44. Paula Radcliffe of England, the women’s world record
holder, ran her first marathon in nearly 23 months after giving birth to her
second child and easily qualified for the 2012 London Games with a third-place
finish in 2:23:46.
“A new generation is coming that is running very well,” said
Makau, who shaved 70 seconds off his previous best of 2:04:48, which was the
2010 Rotterdam Marathon.
In a dramatic moment Sunday, Gebrselassie stopped running
for about a minute just before 17 miles, after Makau made a break. Gebrselassie
bent over and appearing ill or exhausted. He rejoined the race after about a
minute but stopped running before the finish.
At 38, Gebrselassie’s chances of making the Ethiopian marathon
team for the 2012 London Games appear to be over. He has now dropped out of his
last two marathons, stopping in New York at 16 miles in November with a knee
injury; he then retired from running for a brief time.
He is considered by many the greatest distance runner of all
time, and has two Olympic gold medals at 10,000 meters (1996 and 2000), but
another, more permanent retirement might follow Sunday’s disappointment.
Meanwhile, Makau is on the rise. Last year, in the rain, his
socks bunching in his shoes, Makau won in Berlin in 2:05:48. But Sunday, the
weather conditions were more accommodating — sunny and 53 degrees — and Makau’s
victory , orchestrated by a phalanx of pacesetters, became inevitable after a
breakaway at 16.7 miles (27 kilometers).
He might have run a second or two faster, but he had to jump
over a small advertising placard in his final strides to align himself with the
tape at the finish line.
“This has been the greatest day of my running life,” he
said. “When I woke up, my body didn’t feel very good. As the race went on, I
felt better. At 25 kilometers, I felt I could break the world record. It’s a
great thing to beat Haile, one of my heroes.”
In winning Sunday’s race, Makau established himself as an
early favorite at the London Olympics, especially after the reigning Olympic
champion, Sammy Wanjiru, a fellow Kenyan, died in a mysterious fall in May.
There was some consolation for Mosop, his wife, Kiplagat,
won the women’s race. Irina Miktenko of Germany, the Berlin winner in 2007 and
2008, finished second Sunday in 2:22:18.
Kiplagat completed her first marathon since dropping out in
Boston. She was the 2009 world cross-country champion and the 2010 world
half-marathon champion.
The men’s race had six pacemakers in a v-shaped formation,
leading a pack of five elite runners. By 16.7 miles, the pacemakers were down
to two, paving the way for the remaining contenders, Makau and Gebrselassie.
Makau then moved from one side of the road to another and
made a decisive break. Gebrselassie slipped behind and then stepped off the
course, put his hand over his stomach and bent over, as if he were going to
throw up.
But 51 seconds later, desperately needing a fast time to
preserve his shot at making the Ethiopian Olympic marathon team, Gebrselassie
jumped back into the race. One pacemaker, then another, eventually drifted back
to assist him, but he could not complete the course.
By 18.5 miles, Makau had dropped his final pacemaker and was
on his own. In April, he had fallen at the London Marathon but recovered to
finish third in 2:05:45. That did not happen on Sunday as Makau ran unimpeded,
arms swinging wide, drawing away with a muscular style that made him the
fastest marathoner in history.
Meanwhile Radcliffe, 37, had mixed feelings about finishing
third, a placement that came after a difficult year of a thyroid illness and
back problems.
“I’m some ways, I’m happy; in other ways, I’m disappointed with
third place,” Radcliffe said. “It’s been a tough year. With everything I had to
go through, I should accept this. At least I have an Olympic qualifying time.
Now I have to build on that for London.”
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