Ethiopian great Haile Gebrselassie stormed to victory in the Fukuoka Marathon after leaving a strong field for dead over the final three kilometres yesterday.

The double Olympic 10,000 metres champion left two-times world marathon gold medallist Jaouad Gharib and defending Fukuoka champion Dmytro Baranovsky behind with a devastating late surge.

Gebrselassie clocked two hours 6:52 minutes with Baranovsky collapsing dramatically, clutching his leg after crossing the line a distant second. Gharib finished third.

The 33-year-old won this year's Berlin Marathon in September in 2:05:56 - just 61 seconds shy of great rival Paul Tergat's world best.

Gebrselassie won four straight 10,000m world titles and produced 21 world records before turning to road racing, coming third in his marathon debut in London in 2002.

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