|
 |
 | | | You are in: Other Sports: London Marathon 2002 |
|
| | Friday, 12 April, 2002, 13:34 GMT 14:34 UK Rivals sceptical about Haile bid Gebrselassie won the World Half Marathon in October World marathon record holder Khalid Khannouchi has joined the sceptics who believe Haile Gebrselassie is asking for too fast an opening time in Sunday's 22nd London Marathon. Twice Olympic 10,000 metres champion Gebrselassie will be running his first serious marathon and has said he wants to set the fastest ever time. He is hoping for an opening half of 62 minutes 30 seconds but Khannouchi, holder of the current world record of 2 hours 5 minutes 42 seconds, said he believed a conservative start was necessary to run a successful marathon.
"I believe the right way to do it is not to go out too fast and build up," he said. "You have to run a comfortable time." Paul Tergat, who has won five world cross country titles but finished second to Gebrselassie in two Olympic and two world 10,000 metres finals, said he also believed Gebrselassie's target time was too fast. The 32-year-old Kenyan made his marathon debut in last year's London race, finishing second to Moroccan Abdelkader El Mouaziz. "There are two sides to the marathon," Tergat said. "I really believe it's very challenging to go that fast." Reigning champion El Mouaziz, who has been training for this year's event at altitude in the Atlas mountains in his native Morocco, is also unconvinced that Gebrselassie will achieve his target. "It's the first time he [Gebrselassie] has run a marathon, " he said. "If you remember last year another great athlete made his debut - Paul Tergat. He did very well but he didn't win."
And Portuguese Antonio Pinto, holder of the course record, expressed surprise at Gebrselassie's projected halfway time. "The marathon is a different race from the half-marathon. A lot of people say a lot of things before the race," said Pinto. However, both Pinto and El Mouaziz have tremendous respect for Gebrselassie. "What he has done in the 5,000 and 10,000 and the half-marathon has proved he is out of this world, this planet," said Pinto. "When I saw he was on the list he gave me more motivation to run the marathon," he added. Britain's Paula Radcliffe will also be running her debut over the distance. She will be running her second major race in 22 days after successfully defending her world cross-country title in Dublin. Ethiopia's defending women's champion Derartu Tulu said Radcliffe's decision was "ill-advised." | |
See also:  05 Apr 02 | London Marathon 2002 Top London Marathon 2002 stories now: Links to more London Marathon 2002 stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|  | | | | | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |
|  E-mail this story to a friend |
| |
| Links to more London Marathon 2002 stories |
| | | ||
 | ||||
 | | Back to top
| ||
| ------------------------------------------------------------ BBC News >> | BBC Weather >> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- © MMIII | News Sources | Privacy |
