Berlin World Championships 2009: Kirui wins Mens Marathon

Results/updates from the live blog at berlin.iaaf.org

Abel Kirui wins the World Championship marathon in 2:06:55, a Championship record.
Here comes Mutai, silver in 2:07:48.
Here comes Kebede for the bronze. Kebede 2:08:35.
Tsegay just seven seconds back for fourth.
Yes, it looks like Cheruiyot for fifth. Here he comes: 2:10:46.
Sixth will be a Japanese runner: Atushi Sato. Well done in the last half for Sato.
Seventh for Ennani of Morocco
Four runners. This will be close. Martinez of Spain, eighth. Moreira and Feiteira of Portugal, 9th and 10th. Shimizu of Japan 11th.

It was a Kenyan one-two as Abel Kirui won the the event with a new championship record of 2:06:55. Not entirely expected, he was the fastest man entering the race with a 2:05:04 PB, which was the 6th fastest time ever run in a marathon, and that too achieved very recently finishing 3rd in the Rotterdam Marathon 2009, the race which many people consider the overall fastest marathon ever run.

Countryman Mutai was second in 2:07:48, while the bronze medalist from the Beijing Olympics, Ethiopian Tsegay Kebede was third. Ethiopian Deriba Merga, a key contender for a medal, was 3rd at the 35KM mark, sharing the lead with others in the initial stages, but faded badly towards the end. The half-way mark was reached in 1:03:03, which was the fastest half-way time ever at the championships, and the record of 2:08:31 of Jaouad Gharib always looked susceptible from that point on.

Result Summary: