Three-time Olympian Elroy Gelant completely rewrote South Africa’s marathon history books when he broke a record that had been standing for 26 years when finishing fourth in Hamburg, Germany.
Gelant completed the 42.2km race in 2hr 5min 36sec.
The 38-year-old athlete, a former South African record holder over the 5 000m distance on the track, ripped nearly a full minute off the national record set by Gert Thys in Tokyo in 1999.
Gelant, who obliterated his personal best of 2:08:56, also qualified for the marathon race at the World Athletics Championships to be held in Tokyo in September, dipping under the required standard of 2:06:30.
Kenyan athlete Amos Kipruto won the men’s race at the Hamburg Marathon in 2:03:46.
“Well done to Elroy, his coach and support staff,” said James Moloi, the President of Athletics South Africa.
“He continues to dominate the distance. We congratulate him for also qualifying for Tokyo.”
At the Paris Olympics the South African had placed 11th. At the time, teamsa.co.za wrote: Galant’s time of 2:09:07 was over seven minutes faster than his Tokyo Olympic effort was, and to be ranked 11th in this kind of company is an amazing effort. After all, as he said, “we’re semi-professionals, I have a day job, competing against full-time professionals, who go into pre-Games training camps for three-to-six months”.
Gelant also set another personal best over 21.1km when he ran 60:22 in the Bashir’s Run Half Marathon in Belgium in March.
