The Eritrean athlete surpassed the 2010 winner and main favorite of the race, the Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie
By TesfaNews,
Multiple Half-marathon world champion Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea won the 56th Sao Silvestre Race in Luanda, Angola, that was held this Saturday.
He clocked new course record 27:44 ahead of the Ethiopian pack.
Zersenay Tadese said it was difficult to win the trophy, given the quality of his opponents.
The prime favorite and winner of the 2010 race was the legendary Haile Gebreslassie of Ethiopia who, however, forced to finnish a humiliating fifth in just 28:08 following his three compatriots ahead of him.
Atsedu Tesfaye (ETH) finished second (27:47), Tilahun Regassa (ETH) third (27:50) and Asmeraw Bekele (ETH) fourth (27:53).
Speaking to the press, Tadese said his opponents are all high quality. The athlete who clocked a time of 27: 44 said that the evidence was ruled by the balance, where your opponent more directly, the Ethiopian Tesfaye Atsedu, had the misfortune to lose in the first shift position. .
“I’m very happy to win and break a record, but still I have to congratulate my colleagues who were able to reply from beginning to end. I am sorry for what happened to Tesfaye because it gave a strong reply to all of us,” he stressed.
The winner got first place prize money of 15,000 USD.
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—Additional reporting from EastAfro.com—
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