TheCable

Kenenisa Bekele, the former world marathon champion, delivered a come-from-behind race to win the Berlin marathon, coming two seconds away from breaking the world record.

The former Olympic champion won the race in two hours, one minute and 41 seconds (2:01:41), coming close to breaking Kenyan, Eliud Kipchoge’s record set last year, and the second fastest time ever doubled as the runner’s personal best time.

The Ethiopian, 37, broke away in a three-man group early on in the race, dropped behind the trio for a while and had to sprint a full 400 metres to claim the 46th edition of the Berlin marathon in Germany.

Speaking at a press conference after the race, the 2016 winner and world record holder in the 5,000 and 10,000 metres distances blamed slight pain in the early stage for falling behind and denying him the chance at the world record.

“I felt a little pain in the beginning so I dropped behind, after a few minutes I started relaxing so I tried to push a little bit,” he said.

“I am very sorry. I am not lucky. I am very happy running my personal best but I still can do this. I don’t give up. It is encouraging for the future.”

Furthermore, it was a clean sweep for Ethiopia, with the second and third places for fellow compatriots, Birhanu Legese and Sisay Lemma respectively.

Another Ethiopian, Ashete Bekere, won the women’s race in two hours, twenty minutes and 14 seconds (2:20:14).