{"id":3110,"date":"2016-04-17T17:59:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-17T15:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/?p=3110"},"modified":"2016-04-17T18:03:50","modified_gmt":"2016-04-17T16:03:50","slug":"meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Meselech Melkamu breaks course record, Tesfaye Abera wins Hamburg"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ethiopia\u2019s Meselech Melkamu smashed the course record by more than two minutes in the Haspa Marathon Hamburg. Finishing in 2:21:54 despite windy conditions she made a strong statement regarding the selection of Ethiopia\u2019s marathon Olympic team. Fellow-Ethiopian and defending champion Meseret Hailu was second with 2:26:26 while Germany\u2019s Anja Scherl caused an upset with a tremendous run for third place. Improving by more than eight minutes to 2:27:50 she has secured Olympic selection. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Ethiopia\u2019s Tesfaye Abera took the men\u2019s race in 2:06:58. Achieving his second marathon win this year after taking Dubai in a world lead of 2:04:23, he should gain selection for the Olympic team. Kenyans Philemon Rono and Josphat Kiprono followed in second and third with 2:07:20 and 2:10:44 respectively.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Women\u2019s Race: Fast Pace from the Start<\/strong>\u2028\u2028<\/strong><\/p>\n

Meselech Melkamu dictated the pace together with the defending champion Meseret Hailu from the start with the Kenyan Sarah Chepchirchir pressing at their heels. That scenario came to an end just before 20km when Melkamu broke away in the style which reminded onlookers of her best performance of 2:21:01. She went through halfway in 71:04 and a 15 second lead over Hailu and Chepchirchir. Despite the strong headwind at times during the second half of the race, Melkamu maintained her pace and the pursuing duo were unable to cut the deficit. Meseret Hailu finished second in 2:26:26 but Chepchirchir faded to seventh place in 2:30:08.
\n\u201cI think that without the wind I could have run under 2:20 today because it\u2019s a fast course. This was one of the best performances of my career. I hope it will be enough to win Olympic selection,\u201d said the 30 year old Meselech Melkamu, who is also the African record holder at 10,000m. She improved the course record by Netsanet Abeyo by 2:18 minutes. The fellow-Ethiopian ran 2:24:12 in 2012.<\/p>\n

For much of the race Anja Scherl was in seventh place. Her objective from the start was to run the Olympic qualifying time for the German team. Her race splits showed she was on course to break 2:30 and the qualifying time was 2:30:30. But there was an added proviso \u2013 to be relatively sure of booking a trip to Rio, Anja Scherl had to run faster than Anna Hahner, who ran 2:30:19 in Berlin last autumn.<\/p>\n

When she went through halfway in 73:57 in seventh place, Anja Scherl admitted she was startled: \u201cI was really surprised by the time, even a little shocked. But until 32 kilometres I had no problems at all, it was a fantastic race for me,\u201d said Scherl, who ran as Anja Schneider before her marriage. Even the strong headwinds over the second half failed to slow her pace. By 35 km she had improved to fifth, moving up two more places in the last five kilometres. \u201cI still can\u2019t believe yet that I\u2019ve qualified for Rio,\u201d said Anja Scherl, whose place in the Olympic Marathon team is now guaranteed. She took a giant slice off her personal best with an improvement of 8:41 minutes and became the eighth fastest German woman in the marathon of all time.<\/p>\n

There was also good news further down the women\u2019s field: Leila Luik ensured that Estonia would be sending all three sisters to the Olympic marathon after she ran 2:42:11. Her target had been to break her federation\u2019s qualifying time of 2:45 which means she should now join her sisters Liina and Lily in the marathon squad.<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s Race: Times gone with the Wind<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wind was a strong factor as shown by the race splits and the way the men\u2019s race developed. In the early stages a tail wind gave the leading group an extra boost between 7 and 15 kilometres, giving them a split time for the latter of 44:17 and on course for a finishing time of 2:04:30. The course record of 2:05:30, set by Kenya\u2019s Eliud Kipchoge three years ago, appeared to be in danger.<\/p>\n

They couldn\u2019t maintain this kind of pace consistently as headwinds began to blow strongly. The leading group comprising ten men reached halfway in 62:49 but by 30km the numbers were cut in half. This quintet consisted of four runners plus the Kenyan pacemaker Albert Kangogo and reached 30km in 1:29:29. The pacemaker then dropped out, leaving the outcome to be decided between Tesfaye Abera and Philemon Ron along with the Ethiopian Abayneh Ayele and Eritrea\u2019s Yekeber Bayabel. It came down to a duel between the lanky Abera, 1.92m tall, and the diminutive Rono. After 35km the Ethiopian made a break but the Kenyan was back with him two kilometres later. The decisive attack came shortly before 40km when Abera attacked and Rono had no response.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a good race for me. We ran in a big group and worked well together which led to very fast splits at the beginning. When I led later on, the wind was very strong,\u201d said the 24 year old Tesfaye Abera. As far as his chances of Olympic selection were concerned, the Ethiopian, who is the fastest marathoner this year with his winning time of 2:04:23 in Dubai, commented: \u201cWhat is important is that when the selectors decide, I am still the fastest Ethiopian.\u201d<\/p>\n

Results<\/strong><\/p>\n

Men:
\n1. Tesfaye Abera ETH 2:06:58
\n2. Philemon Rono KEN 2:07:20
\n3. Josphat Kiprono KEN 2:10:44
\n4. Abayneh Ayele ETH 2:11:49
\n5. Merhawi Kesete ERI 2:12:21
\n6. Ezekiel Chebii KEN 2:12:45
\n7. Ivan Fernandez ESP 2:12:55
\n8. Abdelhadi El Hachimi BEL 2:13:10<\/p>\n

Women:
\n1. Meselech Melkamu ETH 2:21:54
\n2. Meseret Hailu ETH 2:26:26
\n3. Anja Scherl GER 2:27:50
\n4. Monika Stefanowicz POL 2:28:26
\n5. Madai Perez MEX 2:29:27
\n6. Kelly Arias COL 2:29:36
\n7. Sarah Chepchirchir KEN 2:30:08
\n8. Adriana da Silva BRA 2:31:23<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ethiopia\u2019s Meselech Melkamu smashed the course record by more than two minutes in the Haspa Marathon Hamburg. Finishing in 2:21:54 despite windy conditions she made a strong statement regarding the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMeselech Melkamu breaks course record, Tesfaye Abera wins Hamburg - Haspa Marathon Hamburg<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Meselech Melkamu breaks course record, Tesfaye Abera wins Hamburg - Haspa Marathon Hamburg\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ethiopia\u2019s Meselech Melkamu smashed the course record by more than two minutes in the Haspa Marathon Hamburg. Finishing in 2:21:54 despite windy conditions she made a strong statement regarding the...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Haspa Marathon Hamburg\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-04-17T15:59:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-04-17T16:03:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Rono-Abera.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"marathon hamburg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"marathon hamburg\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/\",\"name\":\"Meselech Melkamu breaks course record, Tesfaye Abera wins Hamburg - Haspa Marathon Hamburg\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Rono-Abera.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-04-17T15:59:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-04-17T16:03:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/dff60ca79e403bd97ce6c98d5849e0c9\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Rono-Abera.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Rono-Abera.jpg\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683,\"caption\":\"Marathon: Hamburg Marathon 2016, Philemon Rono, Tesfaye Abera (ETH)\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Haspa Marathon Hamburg\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/dff60ca79e403bd97ce6c98d5849e0c9\",\"name\":\"marathon hamburg\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db4796017837e6db4de8e6f3656def54?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db4796017837e6db4de8e6f3656def54?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"marathon hamburg\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/author\/agatastrausa\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Meselech Melkamu breaks course record, Tesfaye Abera wins Hamburg - Haspa Marathon Hamburg","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Meselech Melkamu breaks course record, Tesfaye Abera wins Hamburg - Haspa Marathon Hamburg","og_description":"Ethiopia\u2019s Meselech Melkamu smashed the course record by more than two minutes in the Haspa Marathon Hamburg. Finishing in 2:21:54 despite windy conditions she made a strong statement regarding the...","og_url":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/","og_site_name":"Haspa Marathon Hamburg","article_published_time":"2016-04-17T15:59:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-04-17T16:03:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Rono-Abera.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"marathon hamburg","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"marathon hamburg","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/","url":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/","name":"Meselech Melkamu breaks course record, Tesfaye Abera wins Hamburg - Haspa Marathon Hamburg","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Rono-Abera.jpg","datePublished":"2016-04-17T15:59:00+00:00","dateModified":"2016-04-17T16:03:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/dff60ca79e403bd97ce6c98d5849e0c9"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/meselech-melkamu-breaks-course-record-tesfaye-abera-wins-hamburg-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Rono-Abera.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/Rono-Abera.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"caption":"Marathon: Hamburg Marathon 2016, Philemon Rono, Tesfaye Abera (ETH)"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/","name":"Haspa Marathon Hamburg","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/dff60ca79e403bd97ce6c98d5849e0c9","name":"marathon hamburg","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db4796017837e6db4de8e6f3656def54?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/db4796017837e6db4de8e6f3656def54?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"marathon hamburg"},"url":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/author\/agatastrausa\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3110"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3110"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3110\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3112,"href":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3110\/revisions\/3112"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3111"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3110"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3110"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/haspa-marathon-hamburg.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3110"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}