Gebrselassie to defend Berlin marathon

BERLIN, June 12 (Reuters) Haile Gebrselassie will return to defend his Berlin marathon title on September 30 after narrowly missing out on a world record last year, organisers said today.

With eight kilometres to go, the Ethiopian was almost half a minute inside the pace of Kenya's Paul Tergat when he set the record of two hours four minutes 55 seconds on the same course in 2003 but Gebrselassie was slowed by strong winds at the end.

His time, a personal best, was 2:05:56.

Gebrselassie, a former world and Olympic 10,000 metres champion, was a pre-race favourite for the London marathon in April but dropped out shortly after the 30-km mark.

The Berlin marathon expects 40,000 runners this year.

Reuters TB GC1546