Tergat, Gebrselassie head top field

Kenya's world record holder Paul Tergat will line up against the fastest marathon runner of 2006, Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie, in London in April, race organisers said yesterday.

Italy's Olympic gold medallist Stefano Baldini, Morocco's double world champion Jaouad Gharib, and last year's London winner Felix Limo of Kenya are also due to compete in a high quality field.

"The presence of the world record holder, the world and Olympic champions, our reigning champion and the in-form Haile Gebrselassie will, I am sure, mean we have another hugely exciting race through London's streets," London Marathon race director David Bedford said in a statement on the official website (www.london-marathon.co.uk).

Gebrselassie and Tergat, who was runner-up to the Ethiopian over 10,000 metres at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics as well as two world championship finals, have never met in a marathon.

The pair were due to run against each other in London last year but Tergat withdrew with a calf injury. Gebrselassie, 33, faded to ninth after suffering from hamstring and calf strains.

Tergat, 37, set his world record of two hours four minutes and 55 seconds in Berlin in 2003.

Gebrselassie, world record holder for the half marathon, has a best time of 2:05.56 run in Berlin last September.

The London marathon is on April 22. Competitors will also be running for points towards the World Marathon Majors (WMM) series.

The other races in the series are Boston (Apr. 16), Berlin (Sept. 30), Chicago (Oct. 7), and New York (Nov. 4), plus the world championship marathon races in Osaka.