London, UK – Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia improved on his runner-up finish here last year to win this year’s Virgin London Marathon in a time of 2:05.18, and ending the 6-year dominance of Kenyan runners of the event along the way. 

This also marked the third time that Tsegaye finished a marathon race under the 2:05:30-barrier.

Emmanuel Mutaim of Kenya finished second (2:06.23) with Jaouad Gharib of Morocco in third place (2:06.55). Meanwhile, defending champion Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya, who said that Tsegaye was his biggest threat, did not finish. 

The 23-year-old Tsegaye, who has already won the 2008 Paris Marathon, the 2009 Fukoka Marathon and a bronze medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, was on target for a course record, but missed it by 9 seconds. 

Russians took the top two spots in the women’s race with Liliya Shobukhova finishing first (2:22) followed by compatriot Inga Abitova coming in second, with Asselefech Mergia of Ethiopia in third place.

Some of Tsegaye’s top finishes in international marathon competitions of the past two years include:

2nd – 2008 Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon, 59:35

1st – 2008 Paris Marathon, 2:06:40^[16]

1st – 2008 Fukuoka Marathon, 2:06:10^[11]

3rd – 2008 World 10K Bangalore, 28:10

1st – 2008 Great North Run, 59:45

2nd – 2009 London Marathon, 2:05:20

1st – 2009 Fukuoka Marathon, 2:05:18

1st – 2010 London Marathon , 2:05:20

(December 9, 2009) – Tsegaye Kebede has only been running marathons for two and a half years, but in that short span of time he has reached a level of accomplishment that no one else has in history.

With his 2:05:18 course record victory at Fukuoka – IAAF Silver Label Road Race – last Sunday, a 2:05:20 runner-up at London in April and 2:08:35 bronze medal at the Berlin World Championships, the 22-year-old Ethiopian averaged 2:06:24 in 2009, the fastest ever for three marathons in a calendar year. In fact, he did it in less than eight months.

It used to be a singular accomplishment for an elite marathoner to run a sub-2:06 marathon. With ever increasing frequency, the best in the world are now averaging such a time for multiple marathons within the same year.

Kebede’s 2009 was so superb, that he also managed to become the second fastest ever for total time of his two fastest races, 4:10:38. More