Kenyan Sammy Wanjiru is just 22 years old, but already has a super-impressive running resume. In addition to his Olympic-record-setting win (2:06:32) in the Beijing Olympic Marathon in August 2008, he is also the world record-holder for the half-marathon. In early 2007, he ran a 58:33.
Wanjiru seems to combine the best of two worlds: He was born in Kenya's high-altitude Rift Valley, but has been living and training most of the last 7 years in Japan, where he has picked up the ways of the Japanese marathon masters. He ran a 13:12.40 for 5000 meters while just 17. The next year he ran 10,000 meters on the track in 26:41.75, and a half-marathon in 59:16. Precocious!
Last April Wanjiru won the London Marathon in 2:05:10, a new personal record and London course record. He may have suffered a bump on the road to his Chicago preparations on September 13, however, as he finished only ninth (1:01:08) in the Rotterdam Half-Marathon. The results apparently didn't disturb him. “If I wanted to run under the one hour mark, I could have done so," Wanjiru said. "But I’m preparing for a marathon and did not want to expose myself and use all the energies I had."
Wanjiru has been hailed for several years as the next likely world record-holder in the marathon, but it won't come easily. Haile Gebrselassie's current record of 2:03:59 is a very strong one. For Wanjiru to beat it in Chicago, he will need perfect weather and perfect pacing. Chicago organizers will likely provide rabbits who can lead Wanjiru through the halfway mark in 1:02, but at some point he'll have to push the pace on his own.
In a recent Kenyan newspaper article, both Wanjiru and former marathon world record holder Paul Tergat noted that it won't be easy for anyone to break the current marathon world record. "Tergat said on Friday it will be hard to take away a second off the current record held by Haile Gebrselassie," the article observed, "while Wanjiru said the pressure and expectations on the elite runners is too much for them to remain focused."
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