TOKYO — Kenyan Joseph Gitau produced an upset victory in the Fukuoka International Marathon after former world record holder Haile Gebrselassie pulled up after 32km of Sunday’s race.
Report By Reuters
The 24-year-old clocked a winning time of 2:06:58secs, with Japan’s Hiroyuki Horibata runner-up in 2:08:24secs and Henryk Szost of Poland third in 2:08:42secs. Gebrselassie’s latest failure is set to further fuel speculation over the future of the man dubbed the “Emperor” after another year of disappointment.
Gebrselassie a flop
GEBRSELASSIE ran in February’s Tokyo Marathon in a bid to launch his bid for an Olympic swansong in London, but flopped to a fourth-place finish and eventually failed to make the cut.
The 39-year-old Ethiopian, twice Olympic and four-times world 10 000m gold medallist, had even less joy on his return to Japan.
