Press Release - Berlin Marathon - 7/23/19

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

  World class Ethiopian Quartet target top honours in BMW BERLIN-MARATHON

Four world-class Ethiopian runners have set their sights on breaking the 
recent Kenyan dominance when the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON takes place on 
September 29: Guye Adola, who finished second in an unofficial world record 
debut two years ago in Berlin, as well as Leul Gebrselassie, Sisay Lemma 
and Birhanu Legese all possess the potential to win the BMW 
BERLIN-MARATHON. Gebrselassie, Lemma and Legese have each triumphed over 
the marathon distance in the past ten months, running top-class times and 
all have personal bests in the region of 2:04. 

"We expect a men's race with top performances. There's not much likelihood 
of a world record attempt but the times are likely to be very fast. In 
addition, the battle for victory could be a thrilling one that may well 
lasts until the final few kilometres," said the race director Mark Milde, 
who is still recruiting more top performers. 

In the past ten years Ethiopian runners have only won the men's title in 
Germany's most spectacular marathon on two occasions. Haile Gebrselassie 
won in 2009 and Kenenisa Bekele in 2016. Otherwise Kenyans have dominated, 
breaking the world record four times. The most recent occasion was last 
year when Eliud Kipchoge ran a sensational 2:01:39 but he will not be 
running this year. 

Birhanu Legese is the one runner among the Ethiopian quartet who has won an 
Abbott World Marathon Majors race this year. The 24-year-old took the title 
in Tokyo in March with 2:04:48 in only the third marathon of his career. In 
2018 he made a spectacular debut with 2:04:15 in Dubai which put him 
straightaway among the marathon world-class. Even so, his time was only 
good enough for sixth in an extraordinary fast race. Last autumn he 
finished tenth in Chicago in 2:08:41. Legese has already won one big race 
in Berlin, emerging as the surprise winner of the city's Half Marathon with 
59:45 in 2015. 

Two more of the quartet for Berlin on September 29 were in action in Dubai 
2018 and ran their personal bests there: Leul Gebrselassie and Sisay Lemma. 
Gebrselassie is not related to the former marathon world record holder and 
multiple Berlin winner Haile, but has strong credentials of his own, 
finishing runner-up in 2:04:02 in the race in the United Arab Emirates 18 
months ago. That also was a sensational debut at the distance. At the start 
of December the 25-year-old confirmed his ability in setting a course 
record of 2:04:31 to win the Valencia Marathon. In April this year he 
finished eighth in London's traditionally highly competitive field. 

Sisay Lemma improved his best by a big margin to 2:04:08 to finish fifth in 
Dubai in 2018. At the end of last October the 28-year-old produced another 
fine performance to break the course record in Ljubljana with 2:04:58. 
Three years ago he was fourth in the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON with 2:06:56. He 
marked 2015 with victories in Vienna and Frankfurt marathons. 

Guye Adola has every reason to have fond memories of Berlin on his return 
to the race. Two years ago the 28-year-old ran an unofficial world record 
debut to finish second in 2:03:46 - official world records for marathon 
debuts are not given. He even managed to put a superstar such as Eliud 
Kipchoge under pressure, leading until just before 40k from the Kenyan. 
Since that debut the Half Marathon World Championship bronze medallist in 
2014 has struggled with injuries but Adola intends to put all that behind 
him at the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON this year. 

The BMW BERLIN-MARATHON forms the Abbott World Marathon Majors (AWMM) along 
with Tokyo, Boston, London, Chicago and New York. For the first time the 
BMW BERLIN-MARATHON on September 29 will mark the final race in the current 
series. Further information can be obtained at the race website: 
www.bmw-berlin-marathon.com

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