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Shibui breaks 2:20 in real,- BERLIN-MARATHON

Japanese wins in course record and national record time of 2:19:41 / Limo continues Kenyan win streak with a time of 2:06:44

2004-09-26

Yoko Shibui became the fifth women in history to break the 2:20 barrier in women’s marathon running. The 25 year-old Japanese won the 31st real,- BERLIN MARATHON this Sunday in 2:19:41. Shibui not only broke the famous course record of Naoko Takahashi (Japan), who became the first women to go sub 2:20 in Berlin in 2001 (2:19:46). She also broke the Japanese record, which was that time from Takahashi in Berlin as well. Shibui missed the Asian record by Yingjie Sun (China) by just two seconds.

In a Japanese double triumph Hiromi Ominami took second place in a fast 2:23:26. Third was Sonja Oberem (Germany) with a time of 2:23:26. When she finished she stated that this was her last marathon race of her career.

Felix Limo won the real,- BERLIN MARATHON with a time of 2:06:44. It was not before the very last kilometre that he was able to leave Joseph Riri (Kenya) behind. While Limo missed his season’s best of 2:06:14 from Rotterdam, which is also the world leading time this year, Riri sensationally improved from 2:16:12 to 2:06:49. Joshua Chelanga was third in another clean sweep for Kenya (2:07:05). There was another Kenyan in fourth place: Wilson Onsare (2:08:53).

It was the sixth win in a row for Kenya in Berlin and the fourth time that Kenyan’s took the top three places in this race. For the Japanese women it was the fifth Berlin triumph in a row. Runners have been quite lucky with the weather in Berlin again. Despite some very bad forecasts there was only slight rain in the beginning of the race and no strong winds. Temperature was 9° Celsius at the start. About a million spectators lined the streets of Berlin making this once again Germany’s greatest athletics event.