Ethiopia's Gebrselassie wins Fukuoka International Marathon
Associated Press
Dec 3, 2006
FUKUOKA, Japan: Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie won
the Fukuoka International Marathon on Sunday,
barely missing out on a meet record.
Gebrselassie, winner of this year's Berlin Marathon,
pulled ahead of two-time world champion Jaouad
Gharib of Morocco and Ukrainian Dmytro
Baranovskyy with three kilometers left before
crossing the finish line in 2 hours, 06 minutes,
52 seconds.
Gebrselassie, who won the Berlin race in
September, finished just one second outside the
meet record set by Japan's Atsushi Fujita six
years ago.
Other sources:
Kyodo - Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie pulled away with three kilometers remaining to win his first Fukuoka International Marathon on Sunday.
Berlin Marathon winner Gebrselassie pulled ahead of two-time world champion Jaouad Gharib and Ukrainian Dmytro Baranovskyy and went on to cross the line at Heiwadai athletics stadium in 2 hours, 06 minutes, 52 seconds.
Gebrselassie, who won the Berlin race in September with the fastest time in the world this year, finished in Fukuoka just one second outside the meet record set by Japan's Atsushi Fujita six years ago.
Defending champion Baranovskyy slumped to the ground clutching his leg after coming home in second in chilly conditions in southwestern Japan while Morocco's Gharib settled for third.
"I am absolutely delighted to win this race today," said Gebrselassie, who has set world records on 21 occasions in his glittering career and is the two-time Olympic champion and four-time world champion at 10,000 meters.
The race doubled up as a qualifier for Japanese competitors for next summer's world championships in Osaka and Wataru Okutani became the first runner to provisionally book his spot by finishing fourth in 2:08:49.
Atsushi Fujita and Tsuyoshi Ogata were among the leading pack but both dropped away after the 28-kilometer mark and the leading group gradually narrowed down to Gebrselassie, Okutani, Gharib and Baranovskyy.
The marathon turned into a three-horse race as Okutani ran out of steam but Gebrselassie upped the pace from the 39-km points and was never challenged from that point onward.
Elsewhere for Japan, Toshinari Suwa was fifth, Ogata was sixth and Fujita eighth.
CNN - TOKYO, Japan: Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie stormed to victory in the Fukuoka Marathon on Sunday after leaving a strong field for dead over the final three kilometers.
The double Olympic 10,000 meters champion left two-times world marathon gold medallist Jaouad Gharib and defending Fukuoka champion Dmytro Baranovsky behind with a devastating late surge.
Gebrselassie clocked two hours 6:52 minutes with Baranovskyy collapsing dramatically, clutching his leg after crossing the line a distant second. Gharib finished third.
The 33-year-old won this year's Berlin Marathon in September in 2:05:56 -- just 61 seconds shy of great rival Paul Tergat's world best.
"I think I will be able to make an attempt at the world record next year," said Gebrselassie, who has set his sights on the marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
"I knew when it was just the three of us left that I had more speed in me."
Gebrselassie won four straight 10,000m world titles and produced 21 world records before turning to road racing, coming third in his marathon debut in London in 2002.
