Kenenisa Bekele ran year’s fastest 10 kms road race time

LONDON (Reuters) – Double Olympic champion Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia ran the fastest 10 kms road race time of the year when winning the Great Ireland Run in Dublin in 27 minutes 49 seconds on Sunday.

The Ethiopian, who has struggled with injuries over the past two years and could manage only 11th at the Edinburgh Cross Country in January, crushed the field with a dominant display of front running, finishing almost a minute ahead of Spaniard Ayad Lamdassam.

Bekele, who has yet to decide whether to defend his 5,000 and 10,000 metres titles at the London Olympics, was keen to play down his performance.

“This is not meant to be a message to any of my Olympic opponents. We cannot start talking like this until we all meet on the track in the summer,” said the 29-year-old, who starts his Games build-up at the Diamond League meeting in Doha on May 11.

“I wasn’t nervous about coming here to run and I don’t have anything to prove about my condition,” added the 5,000 and 10,000 world record holder.