Athletics: Marathon mark broken

BERLIN - Japan's Olympic champion Naoko Takahashi set a women's marathon world best time in winning the Berlin race in 2h 19m 44.

She beat the mark of 2h 20m 43s set on the same course two years ago by Kenya's Tegla Loroupe.

The 29-year-old Takahashi was running her first marathon since winning the Olympic gold medal in Sydney just over a year ago in 2h 23m 14s.

"It has been my goal since before the Olympics to win the gold medal and to set the world record,' Takahashi said after the race. "Up to now, I have always raced with winning in mind, but today I wanted to take a shot at the record.

"The climate and the course made running easy, and I was able to compete with a feeling of happiness."

She said last month that she thought breaking the world record was possible in Berlin because she would not face the challenging gradients of a course such as the one in Sydney.

She also did not have to face the steaming heat of Bangkok, where she posted her previous best time of 2h 21m 47s in winning the gold medal in the 1998 Asian Games.

Takahashi's coach, Yoshio Koide, was concerned before the race when conditions became chilly. At the end, though, he had only words of praise.

"I wasn't sure what was going to happen since it was cold at the start and she was facing a headwind," Koide said.

"She ran a great race. If it had not been for the wind, the time might have been more fantastic."

The sprightly Takahashi left the other women behind shortly after the start and appeared to deal with the wind by falling in behind a group of male pacesetters.

She appeared content to let the pacesetters plough through the wind ahead and kept glancing at her watch to make sure she stayed on time for her record.

The pacesetters also set up an escort around Takahashi to ensure that no one bumped into her and knocked her off her pace.

Takahashi picked up the pace halfway through the race and at 30km was 1m 30s ahead of Loroupe's world record pace.

While she appeared to struggle over the final 10km, Takahashi was urged on by fans lining the streets waving Japanese flags.

The men's event was won by Joseph Ngolepus, of Kenya, in 2h 8m 46s.

- AGENCIES