Despite achieving his hat-trick, Gebrselassie failed by a big margin to challenge his 18-month-old world record of 2:03:59 in an attempt which never materialised from the start of the race.

The race began at a snail's pace and the nearest margin the pacemakers got to the figure he set in Berlin was 38 seconds when the pack went through nine kilometres in 26:43.

Thereafter it went even further off schedule and instead of it passing through the halfway point in 61:59, a pack of seven went through in a time of 62:51.

Gebrselassie seemed to have another success sewn up when breaking clear after 31 kilometres but received a shock when fellow countryman Chala Dechase came on his shoulder just over two kilometres later.

However he did not panic and finally pulled away on his own just after 37km to finish ahead of Dechase by 24 seconds and Eshetu Wendimu, who made it a clean sweep for Ethiopia when repeating his third place of 12 months ago.

The 36-year-old double Olympic gold medallist blamed a back injury.

He said: "It was not a good night and when I woke up this morning my back was in a bad position.

"Halfway through the race, I decided just to win the race.

"I knew with all the spectators at the finish line, it would be unbelievable. I could not lose in front of them."

But Gebrselassie claimed the problem was minor and he would still be aiming for a marathon gold at the 2012 London Olympics.

In the women's event, Ethiopia's Mamitu Daska Molisa won in a time of 2:24:18, six seconds ahead of compatriot Aberu Kebede Shewaye.


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