Ethiopia’s Guye Adola won the Berlin Marathon on Sunday, while his compatriot and top favourite Kenenisa Bekele finished third.

Adola finished well below Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge’s world record, with a time of two hours five minutes 45 seconds. The record set by Kipchoge is 2:01:39.

He finished ahead of the surprisingly strong Kenyan Bethwel Yegon (2:06:14) and Bekele (2:06:47). Adola will receive a prize of 20,000 euros for his success.

Kipchoge himself was absent in Berlin and from all the autumn races as his priority was claiming back-to-back Olympic gold, which he achieved in August at the Tokyo Games.

After a two-year break from racing and a COVID-19 infection nine months ago, Bekele and the leading group were initially en route for a world record in the late summer heat and high humidity.

But, after 18 kilometres, the pace was too fast for Bekele, as the group made it to the half marathon mark in less than 61 minutes, faster than expected.

After around 25 kilometres, Bekele was back among the leaders, who had to pay the price for the high pace under the sun.

In the end, Bekele again failed to reach his big goal of breaking the world records for the 5,000 and 10,000 metres.

He still aims to start the prestigious New York Marathon in six weeks.

(NAN)