Haile Gebrselassie and Paula Radcliffe to witness cut throat competition in Berlin - Athletics news
Haile Gebrselassie, the world marathon record holder, who is all set to mark a new title winning performance at the BMW Berlin Marathon, is expected to have some tough competition from young rivals like Patrick Makau, who has been lately displaying a performance
that will definitely upset Gebrselassie.
The Kenyan is definitely a strong contender for maintaining an enviable record. Last year, while he had been contesting in the Rotterdam Marathon, he finished his race in an impressive two hours, four minutes and 48 seconds. While in Berlin, he breasted
the tape in no later than two hours, five minutes and eight seconds.
Although the Berlin race had been marred by heavy rain, the legendary runner did not allow it to hamper his speed too much. Running in London, Makau recorded a finish of two hours, five minutes and 45 seconds.
Besides being an important race in its own capacity, both runners are also eager to emerge in it as this will definitely contribute towards their chances of getting picked for next year’s London Olympics. To be a part of Olympics, the largest athletics event
in the world, athletes are required to mark impressive performances as it would be quite difficult for them to overdo runners in the competition in their respective countries.
Talking about the Berlin race, Makau, who is a junior runner in the meet, is sure of the fact that stopping Gebrselassie is next to impossible. While talking to media reporters, he admitted, “I’m sure he will run fast in Berlin. But I will try to concentrate
on my race. If we are still together at the end the stronger one may win.”
Both Gebrselassie and British runner, Paula Radcliffe are considered formidable and unbeatable in their own domains, however, when they will be confronting their potential rivals in their respective competitions, it is hard to tell whether they will be able
to prevail or not.
Predicting presciently about who will be the ultimate winner is not easy, as this only the third time two record holders have been in one race. Both athletes will strive hard for outdoing their rivals in respective fields.
Earlier, it has happened only in 1989 in New York City where two record holders, Belayneh Dinsamo and Ingrid Kristiansen confronted each other, and later in 2005 in London, where Paul Tergat and Paula Radcliffe had faced each other for a title.
For Radcliffe, stronger competition is also expected from German Athlete, Irina Mikitenko, with a personal best of 2:19:19 and European Champion, Nayla Yulamanova. Now, whether both champions are capable of making it to the event title in their respective
titles will be seen in a week’s time.
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