Gebrselassie simply getting better with age

• Multiple world record holder says he will lower his marathon mark

Just when you thought he’s done, Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie will always pull out another ace.

The multiple world record holder arrived in Kenya on Tuesday, the country of his long-standing track and road nemesis Paul Tergat, and announced that he is setting his sights on lowering his world marathon record. Again.

Gebrselassie is worried that the world best time of two hours, three minutes and 59 seconds that he set in Berlin last year might not be good enough to last another year.

Sensational Kenyans

Speaking just a two weeks after he failed to improve on his record at the Dubai International Marathon, the Ethiopian, who is in Kenya on a training programme alongside other top African sports personalities with their sponsors, G4S security company, said he well aware of the risk of losing his record.

Sensational Kenyans, Olympic champion Samuel Wanjiru and London Marathon title holder Martin Lel, offer the biggest challenge.

“How can I say my record is safe especially here in Kenya? What these athletes are doing is making me uneasy,” he said at a press conference in Nairobi on Tuesday. “They are getting stronger and stronger and for them to break this record is not a big thing,” he said.

But he cautioned that he will not let it go without a fight.

Must be perfect

Gebrselassie noted that many said it was hard to break his 5,000 metres world record of 12:44.39 which he had set in 1995 in Zurich, but Kenya’s Daniel Komen swept it away in the next race in Brussels, lowering the mark to 12:39.74.

“Records are there to be broken, but what I don’t know is if I will have the energy to set a new one. I still want to run for the next 10 years. But for the record to go, everything must be perfect,” he said.

Gebrselassie, who turns 36 on April 18, has broken over 25 world records both in track and road races.

He said it is the rivalry between Ethiopia and Kenya that propels him to do well.

“We need each other, these Kenyan runners are the ones keeping me at the top. I remember the days we wrestled with Paul Tergat, especially in Sydney (Olympics in the 10,000m) in 2000. That is what makes one want to break a world record,” he said.

Gebrselassie will be in the country for the next three days attending G4S training initiatives with a team of athletes from the continent.