European Athletics (EAA) – News – Poland\’s Szost runs fastest European marathon for four years

Henryk Szost ran the fastest marathon by a European for four years and a Polish national record of 2:07:39 when he finished second at the Lake Biwa Marathon in Japan on Sunday.

Szost smashed his previous best of 2:09:39 which he ran at the BMW Frankfurt Marathon last October – and which earned him the honour of being the European Athlete of the Month – and took almost two minutes off the former Polish record of Grzegorz Gajdus who ran 2:09:23 in 2003.

He was part of a big leading pack at Lake Biwa that went through 10km in 30:12, 20 km in 1:00:22 and the halfway point in 1:03:38.

After a surges by various runners between 25km and 30km, Szost was in a group of eight at the front that had regrouped before going through the latter checkpoint in 1:30:14, 2:06:55 pace, before the eventual Kenyan winner Samuel Ndungu threw down the gauntlet shortly afterwards. His move had the effect of breaking up the leading pack.

Ndungu went on to win in 2:07:04 but Szost, working together with Morocco's third-placed Abdellah Taghrafet, for much of the remainder of the race, held his poise as the leading pack before moving away from his North African rival, with around three kilometres to go.

The outing in Japan should give Szost a big confidence boost ahead of the Olympics Games in London this summer, where he will be looking to improve on his 34th place in Beijing four years ago.

 European Athletics (EAA) – News