Gebrselassie won the Berlin Marathon four straight years starting in 2006 and broke the world record in 2007 and ‘08, when he ran 2 hours, 3 minutes, 59 seconds. That mark still stands.

Gebrselassie says “the course is extremely fast” and that “everything is possible on a good day.” Geoffrey Mutai ran 2:03:02 to win the Boston Marathon in April. The international governing body disqualifies the Boston course from records because it is too straight and too downhill.