BERLIN, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia seta marathon world record on Sunday, winning the Berlin race in an unofficial time of two hours, four minutes and 26 seconds.

Gebrselassie, 34, improved on the previous mark of 2:04:55 set by Kenya's Paul Tergat also on the Berlin course on Sept. 28, 2003.

Gebrselassie was already 32 seconds inside Tergat's pace at the 10km mark.

He maintained that margin through the half-marathon point, clocking 62.29 to Tergat's 63.01, and at 30km when the last two of his five pacesetters retired.

It was the third time the men's world record was set on the fast, flat Berlin circuit where more than a million spectators lined the streets to cheer the field of 40,000 runners.

Gebrselassie won four successive world titles over 10,000m and set numerous world records on the track before turning to road racing late in his career.