Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia stormed to the Berlin Marathon victory but missed the World record being held by a Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge by two seconds.
The 37 year old and former Olympic and world 5,000m and 10,000m champion, missed out on Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:01:39, set in the same race in 2018.
“I am very sorry. I am not lucky. But I still can do this. I don’t give up,” Bekele said.
Kipchoge was missing in action as he prepares for his sub-two-hour marathon attempt in Vienna on 12 October.
Bekele, who set his previous best time 2:03:03 at the 2016 Berlin Marathon, was a second ahead of world-record pace at the halfway point.
He slipped to more than a minute behind after 30km of the 26.2-mile (42km) race, and fell narrowly short of Kipchoge’s time despite a sprint finish.
Birhanu Legese finished second – 1min 7secs behind Bekele in the third fastest time in history – with Sisay Lemma a further 48 seconds behind to complete an Ethiopian clean sweep.
Ashete Bekere won the women’s race in 2:20:14, beating fellow Ethiopian Mare Dibaba by eight seconds in a sprint finish.
