Ethiopian teenager wins Xiamen International Marathon in recod time
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The 19-year-old Feyisa Lilesa of Ethiopia set an event record to clinch the second marathon title of his career at the Xiamen International Marathon?in?Xiamen?on Saturday.
Lilesa, who won the 2009 Dublin Marathon in October on his debut in the 42.195-kilometer run, notched a personal best of two hours, eight minutes and 47 seconds, curtailing four seconds off the previous mark set by defending champion Mugo Samuel Muturi of Kenya.
Negari Getachew Terfa, also from Ethiopia, had to settle for second place for the second consecutive year in 2:09:40. Muturi was third in 2:10:11.
In the women's race, Baysa Atsede of Ethiopia surged to an undisputable lead at 25 km before crossing home in 2:28:53, six minutes adrift of the course record set by Zhang Yingying of China in 2008.
Lilesa was in the leading group from the start and overtook Muturi with aboout six kilometers to go.
"I feel well today, my opponents didn't run fast, so I decided to take the lead in the late run. It's my second marathon and I won both of them, so I'm happy about that," said Lilesa, who bagged the winner's prize of 30,000 U.S. dollars plus a 15,000 dollars course record premium.
China's Yin Shunjin finished eighth with a time of 2:14:16.
After a clean sweep of top three last year, Chinese women's dominance was rocked due to the absence of a handful of elite runners, including the reigning world champion Bai Xue and defending champion Chen Rong. Home favorite Sun Juan and Jin Lingling took the silver and bronze medals in 2:34:12 and 2:36:00 respectively.
Under 13 degrees Celsius, a record of 48,000 runners contended for honors in full marathon, half marathon, 10-km and 5-km races.
The Xiamen International Marathon, which was launched in 2003 and hailed by IAAF as the Gold Label Road Race, is renowned for its charming seaside scenic course. The whole course follows largely the scenic sections of the coastal city.
