NEW YORK (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s champion distance runner Haile Gebreselassie will make his New York racing debut in the NYC Half-Marathon on August 5, the New York Road Runners said on Tuesday.
Gebrselassie, fresh off a double world record effort last month when he established world bests for the one-hour run and 20,000 meters on the track at the golden Spike Grand Prix in Ostrava, has set 22 world records in his career.
The 34-year-old Ethiopian has won all seven of his previous 13.1-mile races, including a world-record time of 58 minutes, 55 seconds in 2006 in Tempe, Arizona, that was later surpassed by Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya.
“I’m so happy to run my first half-marathon in the Big Apple next month. I’m sure I will like the race and the atmosphere,” said nine-times world champion Gebrselassie, the 1996 and 2000 Olympic 10,000-metre gold medalist.
More than 10,000 runners from around the world have entered the race, which will also have a women’s field in what will serve as a tune-up for top international runners ahead of the world athletics championships August 25-September 2 in Osaka, Japan.