By Erik Kirschbaum

BERLIN (Reuters) – Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie, who broke the world marathon record on Sunday, believes it is only a matter of time before someone covers the 42.2-km distance in two hours flat.

Gebrselassie, 34, clocked two hours four minutes 26 seconds in Berlin on Sunday to better the four-year-old record held by Kenya’s Paul Tergat by 29 seconds.

“Sure, it will happen,” he told reporters on Monday. “But when? Will it be in 20 years? Or 40 years? Nobody knows. The more technology develops, the more athletes will run faster. I believe one day it will happen.”

Gebrselassie, who fell just 61 seconds short of Tergat’s record last year in Berlin after fading late in the race, ran consistently between 2.55 and 3.00 minutes a kilometre to the 34-km mark. He accelerated to 2.50 to 2.54 for the final eight.

“I can run 2:03, I have that feeling,” he said. “It is possible to run 2:03 here in Berlin. It will happen one day.”

Gebrselassie, the best distance runner of his era, is one of only three men to win consecutive Olympic 10,000 metres titles.

The Ethiopian has now held records at distances ranging from 3,000 metres to the marathon. He won four successive world titles over 10,000 before turning to road racing.

Gebrselassie, who has won four of the six marathons he finished, said there were a lot of flat, fast courses in the world but that London, Amsterdam or Fukuoka did not have all of the ingredients for the spectacular times Berlin has.

“For a special time everything has to be perfect,” he said. “If the marathon record is broken, I’m sure it will be in Berlin. Everything is perfect here.

“The course is fast, the weather was perfect — it’s not too hot or too cold, it’s in between. The air was very clear after the showers. The pacemakers were good. For me everything was perfect. You don’t often get all these things together.”

Gebrselassie said he has acquired a fondness for the German capital, where he also had great success on the track.

“When I missed the record last year, I thought I should do something about it and come back,” he said. “I had such a good memory of Berlin. It was like you go on holiday to a place and it’s nice, you’re happy, and want to go back again and again.

“If I can break the marathon world record again, I’m sure it will be in Berlin.”