Geoffrey Mutai
I’m disappointed the Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai didn’t receive more consideration for the IAAF World Male Athlete of the Year award, which, for the third time in four years, was presented to Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt November 12th.
In Spain March 20th, Mutai was part of the Kenyan men’s squad that won a team gold medal
at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships.
Less than a month later, Mutai traveled to Boston, where he ran the fastest marathon in history, clocking a blistering 2:03:02. However, because of Boston’s point-to-point and net downhill course, it was not recognized as a world record.
Still, Mutai’s run in Boston was a staggering achievement, and it deserves a look back now in these video highlights:
On November 6, running on a more difficult course in New York, Mutai showed his performance in Boston was no fluke by winning in 2:05:05. He broke the course record set by Tesfaye Jifar of Ethiopia in 2001 by more than two-and-a-half minutes. Mutai’s triumph also made him the first person to win the Boston and New York Marathons in the same year.
What does 2012 hold for Geoffrey Mutai? He would love to run for Kenya in the Olympics in London, but his country’s depth at the classic 42-kilometer distance is so great this year there are no guarantees he will be one of the three men selected for the marathon.