BOSTON (AP) — Marathon world record-holder Haile Gebreselassie on Thursday commended Kenya’s Geoffrey Mutai for running the fastest time ever at the 26.2 mile distance.
Gebreselassie’s time of 2 hours, 3 minutes, 59 seconds is expected to remain the world record because the Boston Marathon course where Mutai beat it is ineligible for the record. IAAF rules say the course cannot be downhill or a straight line, and Boston is both.
In an email to The Associated Press, Gebreselassie’s agent said the Ethiopian record-holder “respects very much” the 2:03:02 run by Mutai. Moses Mosop came in four seconds later — still almost a minute faster than Gebreselassie ran Berlin in 2008.
Gebreselassie is now motivated to run faster, his manager Jos Hermens said.
