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NYC MARATHON 2007:
Elite Athlete Profile:
JELENA PROKOPCUKA
Posted November 4th, 2007 at 9:30 AM by thefinalsprint.com
Section: News & Results, Marathons
After an outstanding season of summer racing, during which she established four new national records on the roads and track, Latvia’s Jelena Prokopcuka returns to attempt something only Grete Waitz has accomplished: a third consecutive ING New York City Marathon title.
In 2005 she was voted the country’s most popular athlete. Prokopcuka is married to Aleksandr Prokopcuk, the Latvian men’s record-holder in the marathon, and they reside in the resort town of Jürmala, near the Latvian capital of Riga. She finished second to fellow ING New York City Marathon entrant Lidiya Grigoryeva in the Boston Marathon earlier this year.
NYC MARATHON 2007:
Elite Athlete Profile:
Marilson Gomes dos Santos
Posted November 4th, 2007 at 9:15 AM by thefinalsprint.com
Section: News & Results, Marathons
Brazil’s Marilson Gomes dos Santos returns as the defending champion of the ING New York City Marathon, a race in which he defeated a stellar field.
A superstar in his sports-mad country, he won the prestigious São Silvestre Road Race (over three-time Boston Marathon champion Robert Cheruiyot) on New Year’s Eve 2006 and established new Brazilian records over 5000 and 10,000 meters in one three-day span in June of that year. Gomes finished 10th in the 2005 IAAF World Championships Marathon; most recently, he was sixth in a personal-best 2:08:37 at the 2007 London Marathon.
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NYC MARATHON 2007:
Elite Athlete Profile:
PAULA RADCLIFFE
Posted November 4th, 2007 at 9:00 AM by thefinalsprint.com
Section: News & Results, Marathons
Great Britain’s Paula Radcliffe has won six of the seven marathons that she has started, the only exception being her DNF at the Athens Olympics. She has smashed the world record twice, and she also holds the world bests at 8K, 10K, 15K, 10 miles, 20K, the half-marathon, 25K, 30K, and 20 miles.
Radcliffe won the ING New York City Marathon 2004 over Susan Chepkemei by three seconds, the closest finish in the history of the women’s race. She recently returned to competition following the birth of her daughter, Isla, in January and an ensuing stress fracture of the sacrum; the ING New York City Marathon 2007 will be her first marathon in two years.
NYC MARATHON 2007:
Elite Athlete Profile:
HENDRICK RAMAALA
Posted November 4th, 2007 at 8:45 AM by thefinalsprint.com
Section: News & Results, Marathons
After his breakthrough win at the ING New York City Marathon 2004, South Africa’s Hendrick Ramaala finished third at the 2005 Flora London Marathon. Later that year, he lost one of the most memorable duels in the sport’s history at the ING New York City Marathon 2005, finishing less than one second behind winner Paul Tergat.
He broke into London’s top five again this year with a strong 2:07:57. A three-time Olympian, Ramaala holds several South African records, including 59:20 for the half-marathon. Ramaala holds a law degree from Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg and does nearly all of his marathon training on a single 3.5K loop near the Johannesburg Zoo.
NYC MARATHON 2007:
Elite Athlete Profile:
CATHERINE NDEREBA
Posted November 4th, 2007 at 8:30 AM by thefinalsprint.com
Section: News & Results, Marathons
Perhaps no distance runner in history has been as dominant as World Marathon Champion “Catherine the Great” of Kenya.
In 2001, she became the first woman to crack the 2:19 marathon barrier, a feat only one other woman, Great Britain’s Paula Radcliffe, has achieved since. In 2003, Ndereba was the first African woman to win the World Championships Marathon; she followed that with silver-medal performances at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and 2005 World Championships in Helsinki before regaining her World Championships Marathon title in Osaka this year.
A four-time champion of the Boston Marathon and two-time winner of the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon, Ndereba has finished on the podium in an astonishing 16 of her 17 career marathon starts. She won the inaugural NYC Half-Marathon Presented by NIKE in 2006 and lost by as narrow a margin to Hilda Kibet this year.
NYC MARATHON 2007:
Elite Athlete Profile:
STEFANO BALDINI
Posted November 4th, 2007 at 8:15 AM by thefinalsprint.com
Section: News & Results, Marathons, Olympics
One of the all-time greats, Stefano Baldini’s record indicates he is perhaps the best ever at peaking for the big championship races. The Italian won the 1996 World Half-Marathon Championships gold, the 2001 and 2003 World Championships Marathon bronze, the European Marathon Championships gold in 1998 and 2006, and Olympic marathon gold in 2004.
The winner of the 2004 Abebe Bikila Award, presented by New York Road Runners, Baldini is coached by Lucio Gigliotti, who guided Gelindo Bordin to Olympic gold in 1988. He holds the Italian national marathon record (2:07:22).
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NYC MARATHON 2007:
Elite Athlete Profile:
GETE WAMI
Posted November 4th, 2007 at 8:00 AM by thefinalsprint.com
Section: News & Results, Marathons
Ethiopia’s Gete Wami has won Olympic medals at 5000 meters (bronze, 2000) and 10,000 meters (bronze, 1996; silver, 2000) and 10 IAAF World Championships individual medals (including four golds) in cross country and on the track. She made her marathon debut at the 2002 Amsterdam Marathon, where she set a course and Ethiopian record 2:22:19.
When Wami successfully defended her 2006 title at the 2007 real,- Berlin Marathon on September 30, she took the lead in the women’s World Marathon Majors competition over two-time ING New York City defending champion Jelena Prokopcuka of Latvia, 65 points to 55. The series title will therefore be decided in New York.
NYC MARATHON 2007:
Elite Athlete Profile:
MARTIN LEL
Posted November 4th, 2007 at 7:45 AM by thefinalsprint.com
Section: News & Results, Marathons
Lel has the rare ability to win on the biggest occasions—and when he doesn’t win, he comes very close. He has won the Flora London Marathon twice, including this year, when he outlasted Abderrahim Goumri by three seconds, and he won the ING New York City Marathon 2003 by 41 seconds over the defending champion, Rodgers Rop.
Lel has also been second in London (2006) and third twice in Boston (2003, 2004). In a final tune-up race on September 30, he won the BUPA Great North Run half-marathon, outsprinting world half-marathon record-holder Samuel Wanjiru.
NYC MARATHON 2007:
Elite Athlete Profile:
LIDIYA GRIGORYEVA
Posted November 4th, 2007 at 7:30 AM by thefinalsprint.com
Section: News & Results, Marathons
Possessing some of the best track credentials in the field, Russia’s Lidiya Grigoryeva has made a name for herself at the marathon distance with commanding wins at the 2007 Boston, 2006 City of Los Angeles, and 2005 Paris marathons.
She’s lowered her marathon personal best by more than seven minutes since April 2005. A two-time Russian Olympian in the 10,000 meters, Grigoryeva raced to the bronze medal at that distance in the 2006 European Championships. She was fifth at the ING New York City Marathon 2006.
NYC MARATHON 2007:
Elite Athlete Profile:
RODGERS ROP
Posted November 4th, 2007 at 7:15 AM by thefinalsprint.com
Section: Announcements
kenya’s Rodgers Rop is one of the very few runners who have won both the Boston and New York City Marathons in the same year, a feat he pulled off in 2002. This year he has again found the form that made him a three-time podium finisher in New York City.
Rop, who works in the Kenyan police force during the off-season, at one time held the world record for 25K, and his 59:49 half-marathon personal best is one of the fastest in history. Rop named his firstborn son “Boston” after his Boston Marathon victory in 2002. He set a personal best in the marathon of 2:07:32 earlier this year.
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On August 29, 2008
Terry said:
Hi Ryan; Thanks for representing the USA, the marathon was the most anticpated event for me as i saw...