LONDON, April 12: Haile Gebrselassie enters uncharted territory on Sunday in a men’s London marathon which promises to send race commentators searching for their superlatives.

In an act his rivals clearly regard as calculated provocation, the tiny Ethiopian has asked for the pacemakers to pull him through the halfway stage in 62-1/2 minutes which would put him on course to break the world record in his first serious marathon.

The finest distance runner of his and possibly any era, has gathered four world titles, two Olympic golds and 15 world records on the track.

But his only previous marathon was run at the age of 15, primarily as he admitted this week to gaze at the sights of Addis Ababa on a visit to the Ethiopian capital.

Choosing their words carefully, defending champion Abdelkader El Mouaziz of Morocco and three times champion Antonio Pinto of Portugal paid tribute on Thursday to Gebrselassie’s extraordinary talent and pedigree.—Reuters