Hail the king - Haile Gebreselassie(Geb)

The Ethiopian who shook up the middle distance racing scene in the nineties creating many world records to his name is now all set to take up the challenge of breaking the Marathon world record time of 2:04:55 set by Paul Tergat a few years back(2003). His recent performances in Berlin Marathon (2:05:56) and in Fukowaka, Japan (2:06:52 on 3rd Decemeber 2006) go to prove that his current level of fitness will ensure that the marathon world record doesn't stay for too long(months??). The performance in a half-marathon is a great indicator of the expected performance in a marathon and Haile has the half-marathon record of 58:55 (see bottom pic). Now, all I can say is, Go go Haile, you are the King.


Some of his personal bests:

1,500 m	3:33.73	1999-06-06	Stuttgart
Mile	3:52.39	1999-06-27	Gateshead
3,000 m	7:25.09	1998-08-28	Bruxelles
Two miles	8:01.08	1997-05-31	Hengelo
5,000 m	12:39.36	1998-06-13	Helsinki
10,000 m	26:22.75	1998-06-01	Hengelo
10 km (road)	27:02	2002-12-11	Ad-Dawhah
15 km (road)	41:38	2001-11-11	Nijmegen
Ten miles (road)	44:24	2005-09-04	Tilburg
20 km (road)*	55:48	2006-01-15	Phoenix
Half marathon	58:55	2006-01-15	Phoenix
25 km (road)	1:11:37	2006-03-12	Alphen aan den Rijn (not recognised by IAAF)
Marathon	2:05:56	2006-09-24	Berlin

Another point to note is that Haile is the only athlete after Kenyan Felix Limo to finish 4 marathon races in less than 2:07:00.