Champions to be honored on Monday, November 3 in New York City
New York, NY -- Following today's ING New York City Marathon, Martin Lel (KEN) and Irina Mikitenko (GER) have captured the 2007-2008 World Marathon Majors Series championships. They will be honored at a special luncheon tomorrow, Monday, November 3, at The Boathouse in New York City.
Lel, the WMM Series runner-up in 2006-2007, clinched the 2007-2008 title by virtue of victories in the first three marathons he ran in the scoring period: the 2007 Flora London Marathon and ING New York City Marathon, followed by the 2008 Flora London Marathon. Lel then placed fifth in the Olympic Marathon in Beijing to increase his total to 76 points.
For the second consecutive year, the women's title was still up for grabs in the final race of the Series. Two women could have clinched the WMM title by a strong showing in the ING New York City Marathon this morning: Gete Wami (65 points) and Catherine Ndereba (41 points). Not entered in New York, but also in contention, was Irina Mikitenko (65 points).
With neither Ndereba (fifth today) nor Wami (sixth) clinching the victory, Wami and Mikitenko remained tied atop the leaderboard with 65 points. Under the rules of the WMM Series, the first tie-breaker is head-to-head competition however the two athletes each have beaten each other once. As a result, the champion is determined by a vote taken by the five race directors of the World Marathon Majors-and they have unanimously decided that the winner of the 2007-2008 Series is Mikitenko.
In reaching this decision, the race directors took into account the fact that Irina had achieved her points in fewer races and her average times across her scoring race were lower than Wami's.
Final 2007-2008 World Marathon Majors Series Standings
| Men's 2007-2008 WMM Series Top 10 |
| 1. Martin Lel (KEN) | 76 pts. |
| 1st | 2007 London | 25 pts. |
| 1st | 2007 New York | 25 pts. |
| 1st | 2008 London | 25 pts. |
| 5th | 2008 Olympic Games | 1 pt. |
| 2. Robert K. Cheruiyot (KEN) | 55 pts. |
| 1st | 2007 Boston | 25 pts. |
| 4th | 2007 Chicago | 5 pts. |
| 1st | 2008 Boston | 25 pts. |
| 2. Abderrahim Goumri (MAR) | 55 pts. |
| 2nd | 2007 London | 15 pts. |
| 2nd | 2007 New York | 15 pts. |
| 3rd | 2008 London | 10 pts. |
| 2nd | 2008 New York | 15 pts. |
| 4. Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) 50 pts. |
| 1st | 2007 Berlin | 25 pts. |
| 1st | 2008 Berlin | 25 pts. |
| 5. Samuel Wanjiru (KEN) | 40 pts. |
| 2nd | 2008 London | 15 pts. |
| 1st | 2008 Olympic Games | 25 pts. |
| 6. Jaouad Gharib (MAR) | 35 pts. |
| 4th | 2007 London | 5 pts. |
| 2nd | 2007 Chicago | 15 pts. |
| 2nd | 2008 Olympic Games | 15 pts. |
| 7. James Kwambai (KEN) | 31 pts. |
| 2nd | 2007 Boston | 15 pts. |
| 5th | 2007 New York | 1 pt. |
| 2nd | 2008 Berlin | 15 pts. |
| 8. Evans Cheruiyot (KEN) | 25 pts. |
| 1st | 2008 Chicago | 25 pts. |
| 8. Patrick Ivuti (KEN) | 25 pts. |
| 1st | 2007 Chicago | 25 pts. |
| 8. Luke Kibet (KEN) | 25 pts. |
| 1st | 2007 World Championships | 25 pts. |
| 8. Marilson Gomes Dos Santos (BRA) | 25 pts. |
| 1st | 2008 New York | 25 pts. |
| b>Women's 2007-2008 WMM Series Top 10
|
| 1. Irina Mikitenko (GER) | 65 pts.* |
| 2nd | 2007 Berlin | 15 pts. |
| 1st | 2008 London | |
25 pts.
| 1st | 2008 Berlin | 25 pts. |
| 2. Gete Wami (ETH) | 65 pts. |
| 2nd | 2007 London | 15 pts. |
| 1st | 2007 Berlin | 25 pts. |
| 2nd | 2007 New York | 15 pts. |
| 3rd | 2008 London | 10 pts. |
| 3. Lidiya Grigoryeva (RUS) | 55 pts. |
| 1st | 2007 Boston | 25 pts. |
| 4th | 2007 New York | 5 pts. |
| 1st | 2008 Chicago | 25 pts. |
| 4. Zhou Chunxiu (CHN) | 50 pts. |
| 1st | 2007 London | 25 pts. |
| 2nd | 2007 World Championships | 15 pts. |
| 3rd | 2008 Olympic Games | 10 pts. |
| 4. Paula Radcliffe (GBR) | 50 pts. |
| 1st | 2007 New York | 25 pts. |
| 1st | 2008 New York | 25 pts. |
| 6. Catherine Ndereba (KEN) | 42 pts. |
| 1st | 2007 World Championships | 25 pts. |
| 5th | 2007 New York | 1 pt. |
| 2nd | 2008 Olympic Games | 15 pts. |
| 5th | 2008 New York | 1 pt. |
| 7. Constantina Tomescu-Dita (ROU) | 35 pts. |
| 3rd | 2007 London | 10 pts. |
| 1st | 2008 Olympic Games | 25 pts. |
| 4th | 2008 Chicago | 5 pts. |
| 8. Alevtina Biktimirova (RUS) | 30 pts. |
| 2nd | 2008 Boston | 15 pts. |
| 2nd | 2008 Chicago | 15 pts. |
| 8. Jelena Prokopcuka (LAT) | 30 pts. |
| 2nd | 2007 Boston | 15 pts. |
| 3rd | 2007 New York | 10 pts. |
| 4th | 2008 Boston | 5 pts. |
| 10. Berhane Adere (ETH) | 25 pts. |
| 1st | 2007 Chicago | 25 pts. |
| 10. Dire Tune (ETH) | 25 pts. |
| 1st | 2008 Boston | 25 pts. |
*Champion determined via tie-break.
Athletes are awarded points for a top-5 finish, with 25 points for 1st, 15 for 2nd, 10 for 3rd, 5 for 4th and 1 for 5th. A maximum of four events can be counted in a two-year period.
Complete WMM Series leaderboards can be found at WorldMarathonMajors.com
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