Bekele - My career is not over, I will be back stronger

Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele has vowed to bounce back from, by his standards, a disappointing Berlin Marathon that saw him finish in third place.

In the race held in the German capital on Sunday morning, fellow compatriot Guye Adola, who had finished second in the 2017 Berlin Marathon, upstaged race favourite Bekele as he won his first ever marathon after clocking 2:05.45. Kenya’s Bethwel Yegon, another surprise package of the race, also came from behind to beat Bekele for silver as he set a personal best time of 2:06.14.

But with all eyes on Bekele, the three time Olympic champion was unable to fend off challenge from the two as he had to settle for third in 2:06.47. Despite working inside world record pace in the first half of the race, Bekele found the going a bit tough as Adola stretched the race even further. Bekele went on to lose second spot to Yegon who surged impressively from seventh upto second ensuring that Bekele could not defend the crown he won in 2019.

After the race, Bekele, who missed Kipchoge's world record by two seconds when he won in Berlin in 2019 after clocking 2:01.49, expressed his delight at getting back to racing after he withdrew from the 2020 London Marathon back in October 2020 due to a calf injury that consequently prevented him from coming up against Eliud Kipchoge. The marathoner however made it clear that he would be back stronger despite the disappointment.

"Great to be back racing, the marathon distance is always a challenge and I struggled midway. I kept fighting to come back and I gave it all today. Unfortunately it wasn't enough, but I will be back stronger. The big problem for me was the lack of training because of the pandemic. I just couldn't do as well as I hoped. That does not mean my career is over," Bekele said after the race.