Kenenisa Bekele will participate for the first time in the New York Marathon this Sunday, and would like to impose there to “make history”, he announced Thursday. The Ethiopian star will have in particular in focus, the course record achieved in 2011 by the Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai (2:05:05).
« New York is a great marathon race so getting a good result would be perfect for me, said the 39-year-old founder at a press conference. It’s hard to say if I’m going to be able to break the record for this marathon or not. This is my first time here and I don’t know how difficult the course is, and there are no hares which makes things complicated too Added the athletics legend. Six weeks ago, on September 26, Kenenisa Bekele placed third in the Marathon de Berlin in 2:06:47, while he was aiming for neither more nor less than the world record of Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge (2:01:39 in 2018).
In 2019, on this same course in the German capital, he failed to beat him for… two seconds (2:01:41). The three-time Olympic champion in the 5,000 and 10,000m, who explained his recent failure because he had “ slept badly the day before “, Assured to feel in good shape in New York where the record of the course (2:05:05) was established by the Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai in 2011. There will be beautiful people in the” Big Apple “Sunday since Peres Jepchirchir, Olympic champion in Tokyo last summer, will be at the start. The 28-year-old Kenyan will naturally be the favorite among the ladies, but above all wants to be cautious. ” I prefer not to say anything now, I know the course is not easy, but I will do my best ». The 2021 edition should welcome some 33,000 runners.
Crédit photo : NN Running Team
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