Ethiopia’s Bekele wins Great Manchester Run

Pearson clock’s 12:75 in time trial return

Ehtiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele won the 10km Great Manchester Run on Sunday before expressing his frustration at being overlooked by his country’s selectors for the Olympic Games in Rio.

The three-times Olympic champion finished the Manchester race ahead of Kenya’s Wilson Kipsang in 28 minutes and eight seconds.

Bekele, who returned from a long period out with injury to finish third in last month’s London Marathon, is only a reserve for Ethiopia’s marathon team for Brazil and has virtually ruled out trying to make the track team.

After Sunday’s race, which he also won in 2014, he expressed his displeasure at being overlooked for the Olympics. “I’m not happy about that ... there is no-one better than me in the marathon in Ethiopia,” he said.

The women’s race also featured an Ethiopian beating a Kenyan with Tirunesh Dibaba pipping Edna Kiplagat in 31:16.

The men’s and women’s races were almost mirror images of each other with Bekele and Dibaba proving too strong for their rivals in the final kilometres.

Meanwhile, Olympic 100 metres hurdles champion Sally Pearson has clocked an impressive 12.75 seconds in a time trial in her first run-out since shattering her wrist in a fall at a Diamond League meeting last June.

The 29-year-old Australian feared her lower left arm might have to be amputated after the injury in Rome and an old Achilles problem further hampered her preparations for her title defence at the Rio de Janeiro Games.

Racing at a small local meet on the Gold Coast on Saturday, Pearson produced a time that, while well short of her personal best (12.28), would have been just outside the top 10 recorded in the world this year.

“First time over 10 flights of hurdles today in a time trial, I’m happy to announce that I ran 12.75,” she posted on Facebook.

“I’m so excited to get the first race out of the way and keep moving forward onto the Olympics. Thanks to everyone who has been on the journey with me. After a long 11 months we got there.”

Pearson will make an official return to competition at the Diamond League meeting in Birmingham on June 5 as part of a busy schedule before her third Olympics in Brazil.