All Hail Haile: Gebrselassie Sets Marathon World Record

September 28, 2008

Haile Gebrselassie’s disappointing performance and non-performance at the recent Beijing Olympics is now ancient history. Ethiopia’s most celebrated endurance runner broke his own world record by nearly one second per mile Sunday, Sep. 28, when he won the Berlin Marathon in 2 hours, 3 minutes and 59 seconds. Gebrselassie didn’t run in the Olympic marathon because of Beijing’s polluted air, and he finished sixth in the 10,000 meters.

But while winning the Berlin Marathon for the third straight year on Sunday, Gebrselassie averaged about 4 minutes and 44 seconds per mile on the flat course.

The 35-year-old Gebrselassie set the previous world marathon mark of 2:04:26 last year at the Berlin Marathon. He also won the event in 2006 in 2:05.56.

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