The Paris Marathon may not incur the same media exposure nor assume the prestige of equivalent races such as in London, Boston, Berlin and New York, but the 2014 renewal did feature the debut at the distance of former Olympic and World track champion Kenenisa Bekele. In breaking the course record with a time of 2 hours 5 minutes and 4 seconds, he not only proved that he may be able to compete with the best World's best marathon runners, but he also set a marker for other international athletes intending to compete at the distance for the first time.