Five-time World cross-country champion Paul Tergat and former marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia have faulted the recent decision by World Athletics to remove marathon races from major championships starting in 2030.
Speaking in Nairobi on Friday night when he graced the 22nd Sports Personality of the Year Awards (SOYA) gala, Gebrselassie
“It doesn’t matter because you know at the end of the day, it’s a culture, it’s a tradition, and I don’t understand why they removed it. Athletics sports are a hard way too; they should have to keep it as it is.” Gebrselassie said
On his part, Tergat termed the move unfortunate, adding that World Athletics could have considered the weather patterns for other regions instead.
“My take is that it is very unfortunate that the marathon has been removed from the World Championship. I believe that it gives an opportunity to many other sportsmen and women who might not be able to compete in 10k or 5k. The only thing for me is that even in the Winter Olympic Games there are so many countries that don’t have winter, like Africa, some parts of Asia, some parts of South America and all that. But we want to compete in the Winter Games, so cross-country will be one of the key things that will be able to give opportunities to many men and women who are very good at cross-country. So I just want to say again it’s unfortunate that it has been passed; it’s been decided, and we hope maybe as time goes we will be able to see how things are developing.” Tergat stated
World Athletics that marathon and road running races will have their own world championships from 2030 with alternating years between men’s and women’s marathons.
