Bekele left it late to hit the lead, overtaking countryman Birhanu Legese on the 38th kilometre before hitting top speed as he chased the world record of 2:01:39 set in Berlin last year by Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge. Bekele was more than a minute behind the world record time with 10 kilometres to go, but finished in a flurry to better his personal best of 2:03:03 set at the 2016 Berlin Marathon. Bekele was more than a minute behind the world record time with 10 kilometres to go, but finished in a flurry to better his personal best of 2:03:03 set in 2016. I feel sorry to have missed the world record, it is painful. I didn't prepare especially for this race, tactics wise, I just ran my own race today."

Source: The Local September 30, 2019 07:30 UTC