Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie broke the world record marathon time in Berlin today with a time of 2:03:59.
This was the second consecutive time he broke the record in Berlin, Germany.
According to the New York Times:
"With a victory on the accommodatingly flat course in 2:03:59, Gebrselassie shattered by 27 seconds his previous mark of 2:04:26, run last year in Berlin. At 35, Gebrselassie set the 26th world record of a career of such stunning breadth that he has produced a world championship or world record at every distance from the metric mile to the marathon.
Last month, Gebrselassie skipped the Olympic marathon in Beijing, fearing — perhaps too alarmingly, in retrospect — that the air pollution would exacerbate his problems with asthma. Instead, he signed to run in Berlin.
In near perfect conditions — sunny and 48 degrees at the start, 55 degrees at the finish — Gebrselassie won Sunday while averaging a blistering 4 minutes 43 seconds per mile. As track runners like Gebrselassie and Paul Tergat of Kenya have turned to longer distances, the record for the marathon has fallen by more than two minutes in the past decade, since Ronaldo da Costa of Brazil won in Berlin in 2:06:05 in 1998."
You can tead complete coverage of the race HERE.