Bekele to make marathon debut in Paris

The rumours of a Farah-Bekele marathon faceoff were slashed down this week.

Kenenisa Bekele, who many consider to be one of the greatest track runners of all-time, will make his marathon debut in Paris. He’ll get a head start on Mo Farah, who is set to make his in London on week after Paris.

London Marathon elite coordinator David Bedford hinted earlier this week that Bekele would not be running London when he made remarks about him not knowing where the rumours started. Subsequently, the Paris Marathon organizers confirmed that the Ethiopian triple Olympic gold medalist will debut over the 42.2K distance there.

Mo Farah is on of the best distance runners on the planet at the moment after winning the 10,000m and 5000m at the 2012 Olympics and then repeating his wins at the 2013 world championships in Moscow. Bekele, to go along with his three Olympic goal medals, won more golds in world championship cross country and track and field than can be counted on your hands.

Rumours of the two debuting in the marathon against each other surfaced in the fall when both said they planned to race the distance in spring 2014.

The Paris Marathon will be on April 6.