By Mutwiri MutuotaOlympic champion Samuel Wanjiru admitted skipping Berlin World Championships last year may have cost him an opportunity to realise his cherished dream of breaking the marathon record.
Wanjiru, who set an Olympic record (2:06:32) in Beijing, opted to skip the August World Championships to compete at Berlin Marathon a month later aiming at attacking Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie best time of 2:03:59.
When pointed out to him that the World Championship could have been perfect for a world record bid since an almost similar route for the Berlin event was used, Wanjiru said: "Yes, it could have happened there but in events like those, one is scared since you are thinking of the gold medal first then records later. Perhaps we could have worked with my teammates to attack Haile’s record in the flat course."
Contract with Haile
In his absence, Abel Kirui clocked a championship record of 2:06:54 for gold. Wanjiru’s plans to race in Berlin last year were nipped in the bud by reluctance of organisers to enlist him at the event since they had a contract with Haile, who was responsible for selecting the field.
"I will run in London before training to break the world record by 30 seconds in Berlin since running 2:02 is difficult. His (Haile’s) contract with Berlin Marathon is up. Organisers of the event in Chicago agreed that I will race there this year," Wanjiru said on Saturday after finishing 39th (40:32) at the Kenya Police Cross Country championships. His projected new world record would read a jaw dropping 2:03:29!
The London and Chicago marathon course record holder accused Haile of stage-managing his performances by opting to compete against ‘weak’ opposition.
"He does not competing strong runners from Kenya like (Martin) Lel, Robert Cheruiyot and myself. Look at the Kenyans entered in the Dubai Marathon he ran yesterday (Friday)? They are not strong. He has done well on track and marathons and credit goes to him for being the great runner he is, but his time is up. It is the turn of young runners like myself to own the world record."
He added: "After winning gold in Beijing, my only aim is to break the world record. I need strong training partners like Lel and Cheruiyot and I appeal to my compatriots to assist in this attempt. They have been doing it for Haile."
With training bases in Ngong, Nyahururu and Europe, Wanjiru is gearing for the lucrative Lisbon Half Marathon in March and a title defense in London (April) where he ran the 2:05:10 personal best and course record last year before training for his record attempt in Berlin. He plans to feature only in two marathons this year.
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