52-year-old Israeli long-distance runner continues to amaze.
By ALLON SINAImarathon feature 88 298(photo credit: Illustrative Photo)
52-year-old Israeli long-distance runner Heila Satayin continued to amaze early Saturday morning, finishing the World Championships marathon in Osaka in 19th position and booking his place at next years Olympics.
Satayin clocked a time of two hours and 22.27 minutes in the meeting's opening event and will represent Israel in Beijing after ending the race in the top third.
Only 57 of the 94 starters finished the marathon that was run in 30 degrees Celsius and 70 percent humidity, meaning that any runner wanting to claim an Olympic berth would have to finish in the top 19. Satayin beat out Libyan Ali Mabrouk El Zaidi by 23 seconds to clinch the precious spot.
Asaf Bimro missed out on Olympic qualification after ending the race in 34th position in a time of 2:29.22 hours. Wodage Zvyda finished in 40th place and last among the three Israeli's, completing the race in a time of 2:31.34.
Itai Magidi looked to join pole-vaulter Alex Averbukh and Satayin in Beijing early Sunday morning when he ran in the 3000 meter steeplechase heats. Magidi will have to qualify for the final or improve his Israeli record by 44 hundredths of a second to book his place in China.
if(catID != 151){
var cont = `Take Israel home with the new Jerusalem Post Store
