Posted: October 1, 2005

Athletics: Sihine Seeks First Championships Gold

From David Monti

© 2005 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

EDMONTON (01-Oct) -- As the rain begins to fall here in William Hewrelak Park, Sileshi Sihine is making his final preparations for the 14th IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships which will begin in less than two hours time. The 22 year-old Ethiopian has earned two World Championships silver medals and a bronze, plus an Olympic silver medal to boot, but he's never struck gold in a global championship.

"If I could win the gold medal I would be really happy and I'm ready to do it," Sihine told reporters yesterday. "Whatever it takes to do it."

Despite that pocketful of medals, Sihine labors in the growing shadow of Kenenisa Bekele, the triple-double world cross gold medalist who has been methodically taking down Haile Gebrselassie's world records on the track. At this summer's IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki Sihine finished a scant 54/100ths of a second behind Bekele in the 10,000m. Six days later found himself in the same position 26/100ths behind Benjamin Limo in the 5000m, despite making a strong late-race bid for victory.

Sihine is a favorite for a medal here, possibly gold, despite the fact that he's never run a half-marathon. His longest race to date was a sizzling 41:38 for 15 km in Nijmegen last November, equivalent to a 59:58 half-marathon. On the flat, four and one-half loop course here, such a fast time is achievable given the current 5° C temperature. However, the light rain may make the roadway may be slippery.

It will be fascinating to see how Sihine, primarily a track runner, does against the nearly unbeatable road racing specialist, Gilbert Okari of Kenya. Since finishing second at the Lilac Bloomsday Run on May 1, Okari has won seven major road races, and his last six in a row. Like Sihine, he's never run a half-marathon. Last year's silver medalist, Fabiano Joseph of Tanzania, is also in the field and has been in very good form all summer.

The men's race begins at 11:30 with the women to follow at 13:00.

NOTE: RRW reported yesterday that the elevation here is 1000m, and that was wrong. The elevation is 640m. Thanks to Bob Hersh for that correction --Ed.