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News23 Jan 2002


Battles in store in London Blockbuster

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Battles in store in London Blockbuster
Bob Frank for the IAAF
23 January 2002 – London - World half-marathon champion Paula Radcliffe will renew old rivalries when she makes her much anticipated marathon debut in London on April 14.

Radcliffe will once more go head-to-head with Derartu Tulu as they take their series of track and cross country battles onto the roads. She will also line-up against Kenya’s Susan Chepkemei, who she has relegated to the silver medal when winning each of her two world half-marathon titles.

Tulu has held the upper hand in most of her clashes with Radcliffe, but the European record-holder for the half-marathon has proved difficult to live with on the roads and the longer distance is expected to suit her. Double Olympic 10,000m champion Tulu has won four world cross country titles, leaving Radcliffe trailing in her wake on each occasion, but the Briton dispelled suggestions of her so-called lack of a finishing kick when finally capturing the title in Ostend last year – outsprinting Tulu’s Ethiopian team-mate Gete Wami.

In Edmonton, with a marathon victory and PB of 2:23:57 under her belt from London, Tulu once more turned the tables on her rival to capture gold, but Radcliffe has shown no fear on the roads during her relatively brief but hugely impressive half-marathon career. She made her debut over 13.1 miles at the Great North Run in 1999 where she set an English record of 69:37 to place third to Joyce Chepchumba and Tegla Loroupe.

Twelve months later she delighted British fans when returning to Tyneside to win in a European record of 67:07 and she went on to take her first world title in the searing heat of Veracruz, Mexico a month later when relegating Chepkemei to second place.

Her time of 69:07 was very impressive in the conditions, less than five minutes slower than men’s winner Paul Tergat and faster than any of her male British team-mates could achieve. She made it four victories in five half-marathons when retaining that title in Bristol, again defeating Chepkemei, and improving her European best to 66:47 so she’ll line up in London knowing she is competing on her most successful surface – having also set two world bests over five miles in Balmoral.

But while all attention for the women’s race will be on Radcliffe and defending champion Tulu, it will be far from a two-horse race. Joyce Chepchumba has twice won the event and has never been out of the top three in her six visits to London, while Japan’s Tosa Reiko is the world silver medallist. With a PB of 2:24:36 she has yet to finish outside of the first two in her four marathons to date.

Svetlana Zakharova was second to Tulu in London last year and went on to take bronze in Edmonton, while Chepkemei will be another to have a big say in the race. Although not yet proven at the distance (PB 2:25:45), her half-marathon pedigree with a 65:44 in Lisbon last year (the fastest women’s half-marathon ever, although on a slightly downhill course) and her Great North Run victory over Chepchumba suggests she has much to offer.

The men’s elite field, announced in November, is even more mouthwatering as it includes the world record holders for the marathon and half-marathon – Khalid Khannouchi and Paul Tergat respectively – the Olympic and world champion Gezahegne Abera, defending champion Abdelkader El Mouaziz, three-time victor Antonio Pinto, New York winner Tesfaye Jifar, Olympic bronze medallist Tesfay Tola, former world half-marathon champion Stefano Baldini … and a certain marathon debutant with a pretty impressive pedigree!

Haile Gebrselassie v Paul Tergat in itself would be a great race, even without the remaining cast which makes it the best marathon field ever assembled. Gebrselassie was written off by some after losing his eight-year unbeaten record over 10,000m when finishing only third in Edmonton. His response? He won the Ethiopian half-marathon championships and then the world title in 60:03, once more displaying his legendary finishing kick to leave Jifar trailing.

Two victories in two half-marathons, but will it be different over double the distance? At least Gebrselassie can ask his brother Tekeye for advice, for he was 13th in London 11 years ago. Paul Tergat’s failure to win his first two marathons perfectly illustrates the uncertainty of the marathon. In London last year he ran well but had to play second fiddle to El Mouaziz, but his defeat to the unknown Kenyan Ben Kimoniu in Chicago was a huge surprise.

So if both Gebrselassie and Tergat are to finish in the first three they will have to end the impressive London records of El Mouaziz and Pinto who have never failed to make the podium. Pinto has been won three of his seven London Marathons, while former New York champion El Mouaziz has had four outings – two wins, two seconds.

And then there’s Khannouchi, very much under-rated outside America where he’s won Chicago three times. Write off the former Moroccan at your peril, and if he can put his injury problems behind him London will see a much better Khannouchi than the one who virtually hobbled to third place in 2000.

Gebrselassie v Tergat, plus the Olympic and world champion and five athletes who have broken 2:07 … London is going to be a great race on April 14.

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