Posted: January 30, 2005

Athletics: Gebrselassie Victorious In Spain

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Haile Gebrselassie, the two-time Olympic 10,000m champion from Ethiopia, satisfied himself today with a half-marathon victory in Spain.

In fair but somewhat windy conditions accompanied by cool temperatures, Gebrselassie sailed to a 1:01:46 victory at the Almeria Half-Marathon, slicing 45 seconds off of the course record. He won by over a minute.

"I am sure that I could had ran much faster, but there was no reason to do so," said Gebrselassie in a press release sent by Global Sports Communications, the Dutch athlete management firm which represents him. "I am training well again and just needed to find some reference in regards to my shape."

Gebrselassie had Achilles surgery after the Athens Olympics, and this effort was designed to test himself before making a final committment to race the Flora London Marathon on Sunday, 17-Apr. He flies to London this afternoon for a press conference tomorrow.

Facing little serious competion today, Gebrselassie followed his own race plan. "I started easy at 3:05 pace per km and ran the middle part a bit faster, before slowing down a bit at the last few kilometers," he said. Kenyan Alex Kirui finished second in 1:02:53.

The test had the result Gebrselassie was looking for. "I am satisfied. This race confirmed my feeling. I am back!"

The Flora London Marathon has already confirmed Olympic Marathon gold and silver medalists, Stefano Baldini of Italy and Meb Keflezighi of the U.S., will start, along with world record holder, Paul Tergat and defending champion Evans Rutto, both of Kenya. Khalid Khannouchi, the former world record holder from the U.S. is also scheduled to appear in what many experts see as the best-ever commercial marathon field.