Kenya’s Kibet takes men’s marathon title

OSAKA, Japan -- Luke Kibet of Kenya won the marathon in 2 hours 15 minutes 59 seconds today, claiming the first gold medal of track and field’s 2007 world championships.

Mubarak Hassan Shami of Qatar was second in 2:17:18, and fast-finishing Viktor Roethlin of Switzerland was third in 2:17:25.

It was the slowest winning time in world championship history. The previous was 2:14.57 by Hiromi Taniguchi of Japan in Tokyo in 1991.

Kenya’s only previous world championship men’s marathon victory came in Rome in 1987.

“I’m very happy to win for Kenya,” Kibet said.

Kibet, a 24-year-old prison guard, emerged from a big pack around halfway through the race and pulled ahead of a small leading group that included Shami about five miles from the finish.

Kibet said he was feeling the intense heat. By the end of the race, the temperature was 91 degrees. The humidity was at 62%.

“I tried to run my best, but it was very warm. Very warm,” he said.

The top U.S. marathoners, including Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi, did not take part in Osaka and instead are concentrating on the U.S. Olympic trials in New York in November.