The conditions were good. Who knows, the course record might have fallen too. If only there hadn’t been a breakdown at the Stockholm Marathon.
At the race in Sweden’s capital, the largest marathon in Scandinavia, the leading trio with Felix Kirwa (Kenya), Merhawi Kesete (Eritrea) and Anbesa Tesfaye (Ethopia) turned onto the wrong section of the route and missed out in the fight for the course record valuable time. The mistake was only noticed after the runners had been running in the wrong direction for a minute.
“We may not have made ourselves clear enough or the police overlooked and forgot something,” race director David Fridell told Aftonbladet newspaper. “It’s terribly sad and unfortunate. So far it was a wonderful race and they were on course for a course record. That should not happen.”
At a hairpin bend in the Stadsgårdsleden, the runners had mistakenly continued on the wrong track. “There is a small passage where our cars cannot go and then the police motorcycles have to guide the elite runners properly. But for some reason it went wrong,” Fridell said.
In the end, after 42.195 kilometers, Kirwa prevailed in 2:11:08 hours, followed by Kesete (37 seconds). Third place went to Kenyan John Langat (2:12:39 hours). Tesfaye was fourth.
