Gebrselassie Seeks Masters World Marathon Record in May

Published by Runner's World on February 4, 2014

Haile Gebrselassie will take his first shot at the masters world marathon record of 2:08:46 when he competes at the Hamburg Marathon on May 4.

Gebrselassie, who set world records of 2:04:26 in 2007 and 2:03:59 in 2008, both in Berlin, announced his Hamburg plans via Twitter today. Italian blogger Alberto Stretti followed up with the news that one of Gebrelassie’s rivals in Hamburg will be three-time London and two-time New York City Marathon champion Martin Lel of Kenya, who has a personal best of 2:05:15.

Mexico's Andres Espinosa set the current masters mark in 2003. His record may be attainable for Gebrselassie, but it’s far from a sure bet. The Ethiopian legend’s most recent marathon finish was a 2:08:17 for fourth place in Tokyo in 2012.

On his 40th birthday, Gebrselassie tweeted, “I can start thinking and working on Master World Records!” He quickly made good on that goal, setting masters bests of 46:59 for 10 miles in Bern, Switzerland and 28:00 for 10K in Manchester, England in May.