Kenyan star Patrick Makau sets marathon WR in Berlin

BERLIN (Sporting Alert) — Patrick Makau of Kenya has broken the world record of Haile Gebreselassie during the 38th BMW Berlin Marathon on Sunday.

Makau pulled away from the rivals after 27 kilometers and finished the race in 2 hours, 3 minutes, 38 seconds.

“I was hoping to gain a lot of experience but not to win,” Makau said after lowering Gebrselassie’s old mark by 21 seconds.

A graceful Gebrselassie wrote on his Twitter account: “I want to congratulate Patrick Makau with his WR, it is great to see a new generation and I would love to race them for some time.”

Gebrselassie, bothered by lunges problem once again, began to struggle at around the 27 kilometers before finally dropping out shortly after 35 kilometer

“It was a disappointing result today, I really trained well for a fast time, but under WR was too fast for me today,” he tweeted.

“At 27K I got problems with my lungs again. I am sure I will get it under control as it is still my dream to compete at London 2012!”

MEN RESULTS-

1. Patrick Makau, KEN 2:03:38 WR*

2. Stephen Kwelio Chemlany, KEN 2:07:55

3. Emannuel Kimaiyo, KEN 2:09:50

4. Felix Limo, KEN 2:10:38

5. Scott Overall, GBR 2:10:55

6. Ricardo Serrano, ESP 2:13:32

7. Pedro Nimo, ESP 2:13:34

8. Simon Munyutu, KEN 2:14:20

9. Driss El Himer, FRA 2:14:46

10. Hendrick Ramaala, RSA 2:16:00