Abera wins gold in marathon Gezahegne Abera of Ethiopia celebrates a victory in the marathon. Edmonton couldn't have asked for a more dramatic race to kick off the world championships. In an unusually thrilling finish, Olympic gold medallist Gezahegne Abera of Ethiopia overtook Simon Biwott of Kenya in the final 300 metres to win his first marathon world championship in a time of 2:12:42, one second ahead of the Kenyan in one of the closest finishes in history as the opening ceremonies at Commonwealth Stadium drew to a close. FULL STORY ARCHIVE Aug 3: Star-studded marathon to open track worlds

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Men's Athlete Time Gezehegne Abera (ETH) 2:12:42 Simon Biwott (KEN) 2:12:43 Stefano Baldini (ITA) 2:13:17 42. Steve Bohan 2:29:22 46.  Bruce Deacon 2:30:22 Men's "My advice would be to put the names of the Kenyan, Moroccan, Spanish, Ethiopian, Japanese and Korean competitors into a hat, mix them, throw them down the stairs and pick the one that lands highest." Women's "This is just as wide open as the men's race, but I would look for the Japanese, Ethiopian and Kenyan women to be the main threats." -- Geoff Gowan

MEN Athlete Time Venue - Year World Khalid Khannouchi (MOR) 2:05.42 Chicago - 1999 Canadian Jerome Drayton 2:10.09 Fukuoka - 1975 Year's Best Josephat Kiprono (KEN) 2:06.50 Rotterdam - Apr 22 WOMEN Athlete Time Venue - Year World Tegla Loroupe (KEN) 10.49 Indianapolis - 1988 Canadian Silvia Ruegger 10.98 Budapest - 1987 Year's Best Yoko Shibui (JPN) 10.84 Paris - July 6

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Fri., Aug. 3 8 - 11pm ET Men's FINAL Sun., Aug. 12 4 - 7:30 p.m. Women's FINAL

Khalid Khannouchi (MOR) Bruce Deacon (CAN) Christian Marmen (CAN) Haile Gebrselassie (ETH)

Every marathon requires different kinds of preparation because the character of the courses can vary so much - some with lots of hills, others mostly flat, some with many turns, and so on. Every course will play to different strengths and weaknesses of the runners. more