Last Sunday, the Berlin Marathon was won by Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai in 2h 04m 15s. His compatriot and training partner Dennis Kimetto finished just one second behind in 2h 04m 16s.
The two of them broke free of the other runners around the the 32 km mark. At that stage, they were still on for setting a new world record but slowed in the last 8 kms. Their times however, once verified will be the 4th and 5th fastest Marathon times ever.
There was however some controversy in how they finished the race. With a prize of €50,000 for the winner, they seemed to make no effort to race over the last few hundred metres. They just ran through the Brandenburg Gate and over the finish line with Kimetto just two or three metres behind. There was no kick or sprint for the line, it was almost as if they had a prior arrangement.
See the video clip below from 2:07 onwards and see what you think...
It was not $500,000 for the winner! The 500k were for the winner of the marathon major series, and Mutai needed a win to guarantee this.
ReplyDeleteKimetto could not have gotten that, even if he had won the marathon, which makes it all the more suspicious.
Not having a kick after running a marathon in 2:04 is fair enough to be honest.... Its so close to world record pace, and they had time to make up over the second half that they must have run themselves into the ground. Maybe the guy who came second was simply hanging on and its not suspicious at all and you are just making something out of nothing?????
ReplyDeleteFrom the Guardian newspaper....."Over the final 200m that did not change, and there seemed to be no attempt to change that from Kimetto, and no attempt from Mutai to seal the win with any kind of sprint. A few commentators have remarked at their surprise at the lack of a sprint, and I must confess it was an anti-climactic finish for a head-to-head race, leading me to side with those saying it was pre-planned."
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't begrudge them their payday,or the tactics to earn a few bob, what bothers me more is that these 2 were 4 minutes faster than the olympic gold & silver medalists, the first 9 home were all from Kenya & all faster than fourth place in London.Coming less than 2 months after the olympics (I know it was a different course , temperature, twistier etc.)which were fantastic it seems as if the olympic marathon has been relegated,
ReplyDeleteIs mor an trua!