Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia celebrates his winning run in the Rock-N-Roll Marathon in Tempe, Arizona on January 15, 2006. (Photo by Glen Andrews/SPK/Allsports)

By Susan Porter, World-Track

LONDON — Ethiopian long distance great Haile Gebrselassie will take aim at his own worldrecord when he defends his Dubai Marathon title next year.Gebrselassie, who holds the world record of 2:03:59, said he will attack his standard over the fast Dubai course on January 22.

“I still can’t believe I didn’t break the world record in 2008,”Gebrselassie said.

“Everything was perfect, except the pace for the first half of the race, which was too fast.

“It’s only a short flight from Addis, the weather is usually beautiful, the course itself is very, very goodand the athletes are treated really well. I’m already training hard and looking forward to running again in Dubai in January.”

The Ethiopian legend set the world record in Berlin last September.