Kenenisa Bekele focused on Marathon debut

Three years of nagging injuries dented Kenenisa Bekele’s invincibility, reducing him to an also ran on the world stage and giving cause to the theory that the Ethiopian superstar had come to the end of his career.

But with a victory at the 2013 Great North Run last September – his debut at the Half-marathon distance – he stunned the naysayers and handed the reigning World and Olympic 5000m and 10,000m champion Mo Farah a rare defeat.

Bekele, 31, clearly has more in the tank and is now setting his sights on running his first Marathon. Odds are he will line up in London next spring, likely the only event that could afford his price tag. No small measures for him; he has lofty ambitions.

“If I am going to do a Marathon, of course, I want to win,” he says. “I want to have a good result. I am not going to run to lose or just for a bad result. Everybody, not only me, feels that when you are going to compete, you are going to try to win the race.

“Of course, if I train hard I will do a fast time. But I can’t say I will run 2:03, 2:05 or 2:06. I cannot say. The only thing is I have to prepare myself and train hard until I finish a Marathon. I have to motivate myself to train hard to be ready to put myself in a good position. We will see in the end what will be the result.” Read more