PRESS RELEASE August 17th, 2007

Defending champion Gete Wami returns BERLIN-MARATHON

Defending champion Gete Wami (Ethiopia) will return to the 34th real,- BERLIN-MARATHON on 30th September. That means that both champions will come back to Germany’s biggest marathon race. Wami’s fellow countryman Haile Gebrselassie intends to break the world record set by his big rival Paul Tergat (Kenya/2:04:55) in 2003 in Berlin.

For Gete Wami it is also about more than just the victory in Berlin. If she will win the race with 40,000 runners again, she would take the lead in the World Marathon Majors (WMM). The first series will end at the ING New York City Marathon on 4 th November. The top man and woman will share a jackpot of one million dollar. Should Wami finish second in Berlin, she would share the lead with Jelena Prokopcuka (Lithuania). More information about the WMM series is available at: www.worldmarathonmajors.com

Gete Wami set her personal best of 2:21:34 in last year’s race in Berlin. At that time it was also an Ethiopian record. In the meantime Berhane Adere improved this to 2:20:42. To get the record back and to become the ninth runner in athletics history to run sub 2:20 are the main goals for Gete Wami in Berlin. Another target for Wami, who was the 10,000 m world champion in 1999 and who finished second in the Flora London Marathon clocking 2:21:45 this April, would be the world leading time for 2007 of 2:20:38. China’s London winner Chunxiu Zhou clocked that time in April.

The 32 year-old Gete Wami will face strong competitors at the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON. Among them are Japanese Naoko Sakamoto, whose personal best of 2:21:51 is barely slower than the one of Wami. Russia’s Irina Timofeyewa (2:25:29) or Poland’s Grazyna Syrek (2:26:22) could be in with a surprise. Furthermore German runner Irina Mikitenko has a potential for a strong marathon debut.

More information is available at: www.real-berlin-marathon.com

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