Gebrselassie
will race only twice on the track this summer
28 May 2002 – Ethiopia’s four time World and double Olympic 10,000 metres
champion Haile Gebrselassie, who will run the classic one hour race this Sunday
2 June at the Fanny Blankers–Koen Games, IAAF Grand Prix 11 meeting in Hengelo,
Holland, has announced that he will only run one other track race this summer.
Gebrselassie who has yet to decide definitely whether to run the 10,000 or the marathon distance at the 2003 IAAF World Championships in Paris, will race the 10,000 at the Norwich Union Classic, Grand Prix 11 meeting in Sheffield, England on 30 June, in an attempt to register an “A” standard qualification (27:49) mark for the championships.
The 29-year-old Ethiopian who finished third at last summer’s World Championships in Edmonton, wants to remove the burden of seeking a qualifying time as soon as possible, so that he can concentrate on his ambitions at the marathon this autumn and next spring.
"I don't have a wild card (entry as reigning champion) for the World Championships like before, so the 10,000m in Sheffield is a very important race for me. Doing the marathon was great but I would like to do both marathon and track running,” commented Gebrselassie.
Edgar de Veer of Global Sports Communication who manage Gebrselassie, also confirmed the peerless Ethiopian’s decision to run just twice on the track this summer.
“Haile wants to keep his options open for Paris 2003 but I think generally he prefers 10,000 metres,” said De Veer. “It is very important that he gets the qualification mark in Sheffield because he can then concentrate on the marathon. If he was to miss the time, it would mean he would have to seek another race which would obviously upset his focus on the main autumn and spring marathons.”
Which marathon Gebrselassie will run this autumn is still not decided. “Think of the really fast courses and of these Berlin, Chicago and Amsterdam are the likely choices,” confirmed de Veer.
