Back in April, I went out on a limb predicting Haile Gebrselassie would break the World Record in the marathon in the 2007 London Marathon. He didn’t break the record that day, largely, I feel, due to the weather conditions. On a warm day, many of the favorites, including Gebrselassie flamed out and dropped out of contention.
But Gebrselassie is ready to set the world record. He has set his sights on doing so and been chasing the record for some time now. Back in January 2006, he set a half-marathon world record in Arizona at the PF Chang’s Rock N Roll Arizona half-marathon, dropping his pacers early on because they simply weren’t going fast enough. He finished there is just 58:25. That record has since been broken.
Gebrselassie certainly has the chops to do break the marathon world record. He has broken 24 world records in his storied career and has won the 10,000M event twice in the Olympic Games. The 34 year-old Ethopian is a consummate professional and, I believe, he is marching his way toward breaking Paul Tergat’s 2:04:55 world record set in Berlin in 2005.
More evidence came on Wednesday (June 27 2007), when Gebrselassie shattered the world record in both the one hour run and 20,000M. In one hour, on the track in Ostrava, Czech Republic, he covered 21,285M according to the International Association of Athletics Federations. He surpassed the old mark of 21,101M set way back in 1991 by Arturo Barrios in France. Along the way, he also set a new world mark for 20,000M by passing the 20K mark in just 56:25.98.
That’s 68 seconds per lap, or 4:32 per mile pace, if you’re curious.
“I was expecting something special today,” he said. “I was worried a little bit about the wind, but it was ok. I think I could have run even faster.”
Gebrselassie has said recently that he plans to continue running for some time to come and that he aims to race in the 2012 Olympic Marathon.
So the question is most likely not IF Gebrselassie will break the world record, but WHEN.
It will be an exciting day when he does it. We’ll keep an eye on it for you.
If you’d like to see a video of Haile finishing a 5K on the track, you can watch the video on my MySpace page by clicking here and then clicking on the “videos” link below my picture.
Coach Joe
Running Wild with Coach Joe – a blog focused on marathon racing, training and motivation. Bookmark us at http://coachjoeenglish.wordpress.com or use your favorite RSS feed reader to get the latest news and articles. Running Wild is also available on Yahoo! 360 and My Space.
