Rain and wind denies Lel possible world record

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By John Mehaffey

LONDON (Reuters) - Freezing rain and a biting wind over the final five kilometres cost Kenyan Martin Lel a possible world marathon record on the streets of London on Sunday.

Despite the conditions, the defending London marathon champion still set a course record of two hours five minutes 15 seconds after a thrilling sprint finish with compatriot Sammy Wanjiru.

The top six finishers set personal bests after the leading pack were running under world record pace for 30 kms of the 42.195 kms race and Lel is now the fourth fast marathoner.

Significantly he, Wanjiru and third-placed Moroccan Abderrahim Goumri each predicted Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie's world record of 2:04:26 would fall after the Beijing Olympics.

"I will go to the Olympics and in the next marathon I will prepare to break the world record," said Wanjiru, the world half-marathon record holder who is now based in Japan.

"If we can run a fast marathon like that then we can break the world record," added Goumri.

Lel said: "I think what happened today makes me confident of breaking the world record. Despite the rain and the wind we ran a fast time."

The women's race was won by Irina Mikitenko in 2:24:14 ahead of Russian Svetlana Zakharova with pre-favourite Gete Wami of Ethiopia finishing third after falling at a drinks station near the 30 kms mark.

Mikitenko, 35, who represented Kazakhstan in the 5,000 metres at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, said she had been able to push hard over the final five kms because the initial race pace had been so slow. It was her second marathon only after finishing second to Wami in Berlin last year.

"I knew I could run much faster," she said. "I know I can run really fast and the transition (to the marathon) wasn't really hard at all. I love the marathon."

Zakharova also had something to celebrate.

"I received a phone call from the head coach of the Russian federation and I was confirmed for the Olympic Games," she said.

Wami said she had been reaching for water when one of the other runners had fallen. She, herself, had then tumbled on to the street.

"When I got up I didn't feel a lot of pain," she said. "It was only towards the end that I began to feel pain. And then when the rain began it just made everything worse.

"In fact the first thing I did when I got up was to feel my teeth, I was frightened that my teeth had fallen out."

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