Belachew wins Hong Kong Marathon in record time

HONG KONG — Ethiopia’s Bizuneh Melaku Belachew danced on the finish line as he smashed his personal best to win the Hong Kong Marathon Sunday in a new course record. The 27-year-old performed a jig to celebrate with the runner-up, Kenya’s Julius Kipyego Keter, who finished just three seconds behind, because “I’m so happy”. Belachew slashed almost a minute off the course record to cross the line in two hours, 10 minutes and 31 seconds. “I was not expecting to break the course record but after 33 kilometers I thought it is possible — and I did it,” he said. Belachew, who paid his own expenses to join the race, now plans to buy a house in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa with his $65,000 winner’s check. Belachew added of his Kenyan rival: “I didn’t know him before but he’s my friend now. We celebrated together.” Ethiopia also claimed first place in the women’s race, with Gulume Tollesa Chala crossing the line in 2:33:39. Last year’s men’s champion, Mike Kiprotich Mutai of Kenya, came sixth and told AFP the recent loss of his mother took the shine off his performance. “I didn’t train for the last two weeks,” he said. “But I didn’t want to drop out. I was running for my family.” The 42 km course was run under blue skies Sunday in contrast to the heavy rain, which drenched last year’s event. However, pollution levels in the city were classed as “unhealthy for sensitive groups” with the Air Quality Index at 126. And the event was marred when a 52-year-old woman collapsed on the finish line after completing the 10 km race. She was in critical condition in hospital, the South China Morning Post reported. Two men, aged 46 and 23, were also in critical condition, the paper added, while other local media said a total of 11 runners had been taken to hospital. Among the 74,000 runners pounding the streets was Cantopop star Stephanie Cheng who took on the 10km. “The crowds were great today — a lot of college students — and the weather was perfect,” she said. Semenya not thrilled about golden upgrade Caster Semenya is not excited about the prospect of having her 2012 Olympic and 2011 world championships silver medals upgraded to gold in the wake of Mariya Savinova-Farnosova doping ban, the coach of the South African 800 meters athlete said in Cape Town on Sunday. Russian Savinova-Farnosova was stripped of her titles on Friday when the Court of Arbitration for Sport imposed a four-year ban saying there was “clear evidence” she used performance-enhancing drugs. Semenya finished second behind the Russian in both Daegu in 2011 and London 2012 and is now set to become a double Olympic champion after her victory in Rio de Janeiro last year. “I spoke to her and we both agree — it’s not the same,” Jean Verster told South African media on Sunday. “We weren’t there on the podium and there was no national anthem so it’s kind of water under the bridge for us. “It’s not the same feeling as it was in the Rio Olympics last year. It is nice to know they are catching the cheats five years down the line, though, but it’s nothing to get excited about for us.” Semenya, 26, has had to contend with controversy throughout her career. After winning the 2009 world title as a 19-year-old, tests reportedly revealed that she is hyperandrogenous, resulting in her body producing an abnormally high amount of testosterone, which makes her more powerful than her rivals. An International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) rule limiting the amount of naturally occurring functional testosterone for female athletes appeared to have restricted Semenya’s prospects but that rule was then quashed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Savinova is the latest in a growing list of Russian athletes to have past Olympic medals taken away over doping, as the nation struggles to overcome its most widespread doping scandal. More than 100 athletes have so far tested positive in re-tests of samples taken during the London and Beijing 2008 Olympics conducted by the International Olympic Committee. Russia has the most positive re-tests per nation. Carter eyes London amid doping appeal Jamaican sprinter Nesta Carter, who returned to competition on Saturday as he battles a doping charge, has his eye on the Athletics World Championships in London in August. The 31-year-old who won an individual bronze in the men’s 100m at the 2013 Moscow World Championships has been a staple in the all-conquering Jamaican sprint relay teams that have swept all before them since 2008. But a re-test of his sample from the 2008 Beijing Olympics was found to be positive for the banned substance methylhexaneamine, which resulted in Jamaica — and superstar Usain Bolt — being stripped of the gold medal last month. Minutes after anchoring his MVP TC team to second in the men’s 4x100m relays at the 39th Milo Western Relays in Montego Bay and without mentioning his doping case, Carter said he was “grateful” to be competing again after being out of action for 17 months. “Yes the World Championships are this year, but we still have a few meets to go before we get there, just one meet at a time,” said Carter, who hadn’t raced since a meeting in Rieti, Italy, in September of 2015. Carter, whose appeal of his doping sanction is thought to have been filed with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, was welcomed back to competition by a loud, appreciative crowd that cheered when his name was mentioned by the meet announcer. “It is always good running at home and in front of the home fans and you try and put on a good show for the fans,” said Carter, who was cleared to run days earlier after the IAAF ruled that he had not been banned despite the retroactive positive test from 2008. “I haven’t run in almost two years, you can just imagine how the legs feel, especially on the anchor leg,” Carter added. He has been battling injuries he said, including a bothersome left big toe. “I have not been able to train properly, as I am nursing a few niggling injuries, especially left big toe, not the same injury but same foot (as last year) but I am just happy to be back on the track. Injuries are part of the sport and I just try to deal with it as quick as possible, no frustrations, just try to maintain it and get back as soon as I can.”