Ethiopia Insight - Gebrselassie sets record in one-hour run

Gebrselassie sets record in one-hour run

Haile Gebrselassie of
Ethiopia runs past a
board marking the
old world record in
the one-hour
running event

28 June, 2007

OSTRAVA, Czech Republic - Haile Gebrselassie set a world record in the rarely run men's one-hour race Wednesday, running 21.285 kilometers (12.77 miles) at the IAAF Grand Prix Golden Spike meet.

He also set a world record in the 20,000 meters en route.

Gebrselassie broke the record of 21.101 kilometers (12.66 miles) set by Mexico's Arturo Barrios in 1991 in La Fleche, France. Barrios also set the 20,000 mark of 56 minutes, 55.6 seconds in that race, and Gebrselassie broke that mark with a time of 56:25.98.

Gebrselassie, an Ethiopian who dominated distance running before switching to the marathon and road races in 2005, was supported by three pacesetters at the start.

"(It's) wonderful for my collection," said Gebrselassie, who has set more than 20 world records. "I'm glad and I just want to do more records."

It was his second attempt to set a world record in the one-hour race, following a failure at a meet in Hengelo, the Netherlands, in 2002 in which Gebrselassie gave up after 39 minutes.