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Apr-21-2007
Hobbling Home, Jevtic Wins Belgrade Marathon
by David Monti
(c) Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved
Olivera Jevtic, the 2006 European Championships silver medalist in the marathon, gave her home country fans something to cheer about today by winning the 20th Belgrade Banca Intesa Marathon for the first time.
Unfortunately, she had to hobble to the finish on an injured ankle to do it.
She took the lead in the women's race from the gun, running at a pace which would project a 2:30 finish. But the injury began to show later within the first half of the race, and her pace slowed markedly.
"I had a pain in my left leg for the last 15 days, it was caused by the change in climate," Jevtic told race organizers. "I've been training in Kenya, and when I returned to Serbia, it was colder, and that brought it on.
I had pain all the time, from the very start. I thought about dropping out, but I just could not, because of the wonderful support I was a getting, the fans were with me all the way."
She finished in 2:35:46, some two minutes ahead of Russian Oxana Kuzmincheva.
On the men's side, the race was much, much closer. Kenyans John Maluni and Nicholas Chelimo ran together until the final 100 meters until Maluni sprinted ahead to get the win, 2:11:53 to 2:11:56.
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