Desisa Leads Ethiopian One-Two in Men's Marathon
DOHA (AP) - The penultimate day of the athletics world championships saw three meet records renewed while Lelisa Desisa led a one-two finish for Ethiopia in men's marathon on Sunday.
The 29-year-old Desisa, who took a silver at the 2013 worlds in Moscow and finished seventh four years ago in Beijing, clocked two hours, 10 minutes, 40 seconds to claim the title.
His teammate Mosinet Geremew, the fastest entrant in the field with a career best time of 2:02:55, lagged four seconds behind to notch the silver medal. Kenya's Amos Kipruto finished third in 2:10:57.
"This is a great medal for me and for Ethiopia. It is the first for us for a long time. I am very happy to bring Ethiopia this title after so long. I did perfectly what my coaches told me and I won the race," said Desisa, who took the country's second men's marathon gold in the 36-year history of the biyearly tournament following Gezahegne Abera's 2:12:42 victory in Edmonton, Canada in 2001.
Newly crowned 10,000m champion Sifan Hassan was victorious in the 1,500m as the Dutch runner set a championships record time of three minutes and 51.95 seconds after her 10,000m victory a week ago.
The 29-year-old Desisa, who took a silver at the 2013 worlds in Moscow and finished seventh four years ago in Beijing, clocked two hours, 10 minutes, 40 seconds to claim the title.
His teammate Mosinet Geremew, the fastest entrant in the field with a career best time of 2:02:55, lagged four seconds behind to notch the silver medal. Kenya's Amos Kipruto finished third in 2:10:57.
"This is a great medal for me and for Ethiopia. It is the first for us for a long time. I am very happy to bring Ethiopia this title after so long. I did perfectly what my coaches told me and I won the race," said Desisa, who took the country's second men's marathon gold in the 36-year history of the biyearly tournament following Gezahegne Abera's 2:12:42 victory in Edmonton, Canada in 2001.
Newly crowned 10,000m champion Sifan Hassan was victorious in the 1,500m as the Dutch runner set a championships record time of three minutes and 51.95 seconds after her 10,000m victory a week ago.