Nigeria Content Online

Ethiopia’s
Hailu Mekonnen sprinted to victory in the Tokyo Marathon on Sunday,
taking advantage of the absence of world record holder Haile
Gebrselassie. Mekonnen won in two hours, seven minutes and 35 seconds
in dazzling sunshine before paying tribute to his countryman, who
pulled out of the race after a freak training injury.

“Haile is an
incredible athlete who can be beaten by no one,” the 30-year-old
Mekonnen told reporters after shaving two seconds off his personal best.

“It’s sad and
disappointing Haile could not participate. There’s no question he would
have made the Tokyo Marathon a much better race.

“I tried to make up
for him not being here by running the best race I could possibly run.
The Tokyo Marathon is one of the biggest races in the world and I’m
very happy to have won it.” Emperor no-show Gebrselassie withdrew last
week after bruising his knees following a stumble during practice.

The 37-year-old, who clocked a fastest ever time of 2:03:59 when he
won the 2008 Berlin marathon, announced his retirement last November
only to make a dramatic U-turn days later. The no-show of the man
dubbed the “Emperor” left Sunday’s field wide open and Mekonnen began
to pull away from Kenyan Paul Biwott around the 35 kilometre mark to
claim the win. Biwott finished in 2:08:17, followed in third by Japan’s
Yuki Kawauchi, who clocked 2:08:37 to qualify for August’s world
championships in South Korea. A record 36,000 runners lined up at the
start of the race in sunny but chilly conditions in the Japanese
capital. Russia’s Tatiana Aryasova won the women’s race in 2:27:29 with
Noriko Higuchi of Japan runner-up a minute and 20 seconds behind.
Russian Tatiana Petrova was third in 2:28:56.