Deriba Merga is one of the world's best marathon runners

Ethiopian national team marathon coach Zelalem Desta said today that his team is ready to sweep the medals in the men's and women's marathon this weekend at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Berlin, Germany.

In an exclusive interview with www.ethioberlin2009.com, Zelalem said, "This is the best marathon team we have had since the Sydney Olympics. Even in Sydney, we did not have a strong women's team then than we did now. We are expecting to get medals here."

The team's chances will be helped by the absence of some key challengers. In the men's race, Olympic champion Samuel Wanjiru and world leader Duncan Kibet, both of Kenya, decided to give the world championships a miss to run big city marathons. World record holder Paula Radcliffe (GBR), Germany's top marathon runner Irina Mikitenko, and Kenya's Boston marathon champion Salina Kosgei will all not take part in the women's race due to injury.

"I know that there are some key athletes not competing, but it does not matter," said Zelalem. "Our athletes have trained very well and we hope that they will do something special."

Merga's panicking start
Athletes expected to do well in the men's rac are Olympic bronze medallist Tsegaye Kebede and world 8km record holder Deriba Merga, who faded to finish fourth in last year's Beijing Olympics marathon. Deriba's explosive start this year has also seen him equal the world 15km record at the Ras Al Khamiah Half Marathon in the United Arab Emirates only to finish 3rd at the end of the race. 

"His explosive start is a problem that we have addressed repeatedly in training," said Zelalem. "We will tell him to take it easy at the beginning and we will continue to tell him until race day."

Barren run
Despite its rich marathon history, Ethiopia has just two medals in the world championship marathon with Gezhagne Abera winning gold in Edmonton 2001, while Kebede Balcha won bronze in the first edition of these championships in 1983.