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December 2009
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Weidlinger upsets Wanjiru at Great Australian Run |
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29.11.2009 |
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Guenther Weidlinger of Austria upstaged Olympic
Marathon champion Sammy Wanjiru to win the
men's race at the Great Australian Run in
Melbourne on Sunday.
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Austria's Guenther Weidlinger pulled off a huge surprise to beat Olympic Marathon champion Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya at the Great Australian Run, a 15km road race, in Melbourne on Sunday.
The list of casualties in Melbourne included the likes of 2004 Athens Olympic Games Marathon champion Stefano Baldini of Italy and Spain's former European 10000m champion Jose Manuel Martinez.
Wanjiru, the reigning Olympic Marathon champion, World Marathon Majors champion and the world record holder in the Half Marathon, went into the race as the outright favourite but the inspired Austrian had other plans.
Weidlinger holds every national record from the 1500m to the Marathon, but beating two Olympic Marathon champions in the same race must rank among the highest achievements in his career.
The win came just five weeks after Weidlinger's national Marathon record in Frankfurt.
Weidlinger sprinted to the line in 43:01, 21 seconds slower than Haile Gebrselassie last year. Australia's Collis Birmingham followed 18 seconds behind with a national title and a personal best. Martin Dent, Australia's leading finisher in the Marathon race at the World Championships in Berlin, also passed Wanjiru for third.
After the late withdrawal of Irina Mikitenko (illness) and Deena Kastor (family reasons), the 2004 world Cross Country champion Benita Willis of Australia was widely pitted as the favourite to win the women's race.
Willis along with compatriot Nikki Chapple and 1996 Olympic Games 10000m champion Fernanda Ribeiro of Portugal led the race at the beginning. But it was Chapple who took control in the middle stages around Melbourne's Botanic Gardens.
Chapple won in 50:18, rating it her biggest win. Willis took second in 51:15, ahead of Britain's Helen Clitheroe (51:17) and Ribeiro (51:41).
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