On Friday, January 25, 2020, two new champions of the 2020 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon will be named. Will they be the two fastest athletes in the field? With the depth in Dubai in 2020, there are going to be some amazing challengers on both the men’s and women’s events.
Worknesh Degefa takes Dubai, photo by Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon
Worknesh Degefa is was second place in 2019, in an Ethiopian record, of 2:17:41. The fastest Ethiopian woman of all time, Degefa was painfully close to a win in 2019. She’s back, very fit and very focused.
Soloman Deksisa, 2019 Boston Marathon, photo by PhotoRun.net
Both Degefa and Deksisa were asked questions by Tim Hutchings, 4th in the 1984 Olympic 5000m, and global TV athletics announcerr, as well as questions from Reuters and RunBlogRun.
The questions on the Nike running shoe controversy continued, and while Deksisa noted he will run in a Nike running shoe, he did note that the shoe may assist, but it all comes down to the athletes over 26.2 miles.
The Reuters reporter wanted the athletes to discuss the value of the new Nike racing shoes.
The question to Worknesh Degefa was answered with a blank look, and the note that she runs in adidas. Alan Ewans, the Press Director for the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon, noted that her new adidas shoe would be the color yellow.
The big questions were on how the Ethiopian federation was picking the team for Tokyo. Deksisa made it clear that if he wins, he should do fine. He did not know what the Federation wanted.
Worknesh Degefa told this reporter that she was focused on running fast in Dubai and she had no clue what the Federation wanted.
My take on the men and women? Degefa is fit, and look for a low 2:16, and Deksisa will have his hands full. The women’s field is tremendous. The weather will be cool, but the 30-40 mile an hour wind that is rumored, that could push a few of the marathoners around.
