Ethiopian champions Lemi, Haymanot eye repeat feat

Ethiopian elite runners Anchialem Haymanot and Hayle Lemi near CSMT yesterday

Meb Keflizighi, event ambassador of the Tata Mumbai Marathon (TMM) started off the press meet with elite international athletes at the marathon's press centre at Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh at Azad Maidan in SoBo on Friday evening.

The global running icon, Mebrahtom or Meb as he's known around the world, now retired, is an Olympic medallist and a New York City Marathon and Boston Marathon winner. The runner based in Tampa (Florida) was born in Eritrea. "His life is the stuff of movies" said marathon commentator Tim Hutchins at the press meet. With that shout out to Bollywood over, Meb took some questions, stating that the TMM 2024 boasted an "amazing, outstanding field with a lot of fast guys. Now it is time to hydrate and enroute use the crowd to cheer you on and help you finish strong."

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The three Ethiopian ladies, defending champion Anchialem Haymanot, who set a 2:24:15 course record last year, Tadelech Bekele and Sofia Assefa said they were ready for the big day, come hot weather or hills. Haymanot claimed she was, "very happy to win the race last year" and has kept her training quite similar to last year, saying the familiarity with the route will help. Bekele has an impressive 2:21:40 as personal best in London in 2018. Assefa used to specialise in the 3000m steeplechase and placed eighth in the Amsterdam Marathon 2023 with 2:23:33.

The men's field has defending champ Hayle Lemi Berhanu from Ethiopia, who finished in a course record of 2:07:32 in last year's TMM. He said his training was going "great." There is countryman Kinde Atanaw, who stopped the clock at 2:03:51 in 2019. Lelisa Desisa from what is the Big E of the TMM, Ethiopia, said he was, "unafraid of the weather" and had run in Delhi way back in 2010, coming in second for the half marathon at 59:39. He has a personal best of 2:04:45. "Hard work and discipline is key," said Desisa, closing a conference where the anchor said, "while talks of a record always buzz before the race, it is the first place that the athletes are looking for as the prize money is very substantial and these are professionals who run for a living."