Kirui, Bai score points in World Marathon Majors Series with victories at IAAF World Championships in Berlin

 

BERLIN,
August 23, 2009 – The top five performers in the men’s and women’s
marathons at the IAAF World Championships in Berlin, Germany scored
points in the World Marathon Majors series.

 

On
Saturday, August 22, the men’s race saw a championship record and the
following five were first through the finish line at the Brandenberg
Gate near the Tiergarten in the center of the city:

 

Place    Name, Country                                      Time     World Marathon Majors points

1.         Abel KIRUI, KEN                                   2:06:54             25 pts.
2.         Emmanuel Kipchirchir MUTAI, KEN        2:07:48             15

3.         Tsegay KEBEDE, ETH                          2:08:35             10
4.         Yemane TSEGAY, ETH                         2:08:42             5

5.         Robert Kipkoech CHERUIYOT, KEN       2:10:46             1

 

In the
women’s race on the following day and like Kenya in the men’s race,
China took three of the top five places over the four-lap route:

 

Place    Name, Country                                      Time     World Marathon Majors points

1.         Xue BAI, CHN                                       2:25:15             25 pts.

2.         Yoshimi OZAKI, JPN                             2:25:25             15
3.         Aselefech MERGIA, ETH                       2:25:32             10

4.         Chunxiu Zhou, CHN                               2:25:39             5

5.         Xiaolin ZHU, CHN                                  2:26:08             1

 

With the
World Championships completed, the schedule for the remaining three
events of the 2008-2009 World Marathon Majors series includes:

 

real,-BERLIN-Marathon on September 20;
Bank of America Chicago Marathon on October 11; and,
ING New York City Marathon on November 1.

 

The Boston Marathon and the Virgin London Marathon are the other races which comprise the World Marathon Majors.

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With 65
points and 75 points respectively, Olympic gold medalist Samuel Wanjiru
(KEN) and defending London and Berlin champion Irina Mikitenko (GER)
lead in the 2008-09 World Marathon Majors series.  On the men’s leader
board, Kebede (35 points) and Mutai (26 points) improved their
standings among the top five.  This weekend’s World Championships did
not result in any changes atop the women’s leader board.

 

Martin Lel
(KEN) and Mikitenko are the reigning World Marathon Majors champions. 
The series champions both will be awarded $500,000 USD on November 2 in
New York City.

 

WMM series
points are collected for top five finishes with 25 points for first
place, 15 for second, 10 for third, 5 for fourth and 1 for fifth.

 

To view
the current leader boards for both the current series and the 2009-2010
series and for complete and updated biographies of World Marathon
Majors points leaders, go to www.worldmarathonmajors.com.