Just two weeks ago, the gruelling training regime followed meticulously by top athlete, Haile Gebrselassie, was interrupted by a niggling calf injury. This injury forced Gebrselassie to take a whole week off, something which worried the 35 year-old Ethiopian in the build-up to the Berlin Marathon.

However, these concerns came to nothing, as he not only won the race, but smashed his own world record in the process. The win was Gebrselassie’s third successive Berlin Marathon victory and, taking just two hours, three minutes, and fifty-nine seconds, he became the first man to finish in less than two hours, four minutes.

Last year, the legendary Ethiopian athlete set a new world record in Berlin but he managed to beat it by almost half a minute. He was awarded with £39,000 for the overall victory and £39,000 for his new world record. Gebrselassie was noticeably excited by his latest achievement: “I am so, so happy, everything was perfect, the weather was perfect, the spectators were perfect, everything – I am so happy”.

At around the 33km mark, it looked like Gebrselassie was going to be pushed to the end by Kenyan, James Kwambai. Both men broke away from the pack at this point but the Ethiopian continued to step up the pace and Kwambai faded away shortly after.

The women’s race was won by the winner of this year’s London Marathon, Irina Mikitenko. The German finished the course in just two hours, nineteen minutes, and eighteen seconds. This was not only a personal best for her, but was also the fastest time in the world this year.

Written by Charlotte Cook