Bekele finishes his 2017 racing with a victory at the TSK25K, from Spainsport

Bekele finishes his 2017 racing with a victory at the TSK25K

Kolkata, 17 December 2017 (for immediate use):

Ethiopian running icon Kenenisa Bekele fell short of his target of running a 25km personal best at the Tata Steel Kolkata 25K but he still dominated the race in the Indian city after breaking away from his rivals just after 18 kilometres before coming home in 1:13:48.

Bekele had talked at Friday’s press conference about beating his best for the distance of 1:12:47 – an intermediate time in the 2016 Berlin Marathon which he went on to win in 2:03:03 to go second on the all-time list for the classic distance – but it quickly became apparent that was going to be a tall order after a very conservative pace over the first half of the race.

The leading group went through the 7.5km checkpoint in a sluggish 24:24. Just before halfway, Bekele briefly went through a bad patch and drifted off the back of the leaders, with his compatriot Asefa Diro leading at 12km in 39:09 and Bekele seven seconds adrift in fifth place.

However, the multiple world champion and world record holder soon got back up with the group containing Diro, Eritrea’s Tsegay Tuemay, Tanzania’s Augustino Sulle and India’s Avinash Sable before surging away with just under seven kilometres to go.

His move almost immediately splintered the leading group with nobody able to stay with him once he moved into a higher gear. Tuemay eventually crossed the finish line on Kolkata’s historic Red Road in second place in 1:14:21 with Sulle third in 1:14:41.

One accolade that did fall to Bekele was the course record. In the first year that the TSK25K has had an elite international field Bekele improved the previous rather modest record of 1:17:16 from 12 month ago by more than three minutes.

“I feel fantastic. It was a fast time and I’m glad to be winning and making history,” said Bekele, reflecting on the fact that the race had opened its arms to international runners for the first time.

It also put behind him the spectre of his failure to finish the Berlin Marathon in September, when he dropped out at 30 kilometres, and meant Bekele finished his 2017 racing campaign on a high note with a confidence-boosting victory.