Duncan Kibet, photo courtesy of PhotoRun.net, September 16, 2009.
Last April, Duncan Kibet ran 2:04.27. Last December, Haile Gebrselassie ran 2:03.59, setting a new world record (his second in two years). On Sunday, September 20, 2009,
Duncan Kibet and Haile Gebrselassie will line up together. Haile wants a new world record, and Duncan wants a personal best. Who will be faster? Read on.....
DUNCAN KIBET
by Pat Butcher, for real,-Berlin 2009
Duncan Kibet, real,-Berlin 2009, photo by PhotoRun.net.
When Duncan Kibet broke his leg in a car accident at the age of 16, the prospects of his walking properly, let alone becoming a world class runner were pretty remote. Fifteen years later, the legacy of the break is still visible above his left ankle. But the combination of living in Eldoret aka Running Town, Kenya, of his elder brother Luke Kipchumba starting to run well at the start of the century, and hanging out with Kenyan stars, like Moses Tanui and Moses Kiptanui changed his attitude. Duncan Kibet, then aged 25, thought he’d give it a try.
So successful was that foray, and despite his own misgivings about moving up to the ultimate distance, Kibet goes into Sunday’s real,-Berlin Marathon as the second fastest man in history. But he faces a metaphorical car crash this time, since alongside him he’ll have the man who has won the last three Berlin races, the last two of them in world record time, hence the number one fastest man in the world, Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia.
“I never even thought about being a runner,” said Kibet on arrival in Berlin on Thursday, “all we did at school was run on sports day, that was it. And when I broke my leg, it never crossed my mind. I was scared to run. But my brother encouraged me, and gradually, I saw I could do it”.
