Florence Kiplagat, seen here winning the 2009 World Cross Country title in Amman (Jordan), is the new World Half-Marathon champion. © www.photorun.net

Wilson Kiprop was victorious at the World Half-Marathon Championships in Nanning, China. He crossed the finish line ahead of the pre-race favorite, Zersenay Tadese (Eritrea), who placed second. Zersenay Tadese had won the gold medal four times in a row at these championships. Now 23-year-old Wilson Kiprop took the title in 60:07 minutes. In the women’s race, Florence Kiplagat of Kenya lived up to the expectations and succeeded in 68:24. Kenya’s runners won both team titles as well.

All eyes were on Zersenay Tadese going into the men’s race. Not only had the 28 year old won the World Half Marathon title on four consecutive occasions, but he had also run faster this year than ever before. Earlier this spring, Zersenay broke Sammy Wanjiru’s world half-marathon record, running 58:23.

The race-day conditions were warm with temperatures just over 68 degrees Fahrenheit and 60 percent humidity. The defending champion went to the head of the pack as soon as the starting gun went off. He reached 10K in 28:49 with a dozen other runners on his heels. Five kilometers later, the group had thinned significantly. Fifteen kilometers were reached in 42:49, with only three Kenyan runners staying with Zersenay Tadese: Wilson Kiprop, Silas Kipruto and Sammy Kitwara, who has the second fastest (58:58) personal best of the group.

With 5K to go, the race became a duel between Zersenay Tadese and Wilson Kiprop. Silas Kipruto had been the first to fall back; Sammy Kitwara was next. Wilson made the first move, but Zersenay countered immediately and regained the lead. The Kenyan Wilson Kiprop ultimately decided to rely on his finishing kick and waited with 100 meters to go to sprint to the finish. Zersenay Tadese seemed surprised at this tactic and trailed across the finish line four seconds later. Sammy Kitwara took the bronze medal in 60:22 well ahead of Silas Kipruto who shared the same time as Samuel Tsegay (Eritrea/61:03). Another Kenyan, Titus Masai, finished sixth in 61:24.

Wilson Kiprop is the first Kenyan runner to have won the men’s crown at the World Half-Marathon Championships since 2004. His and Florence Kiplagat’s victories signaled the first time since 1999 that a single country has captured both titles. On that occasion, Kenya’s Paul Tergat and Tegla Loroupe were the winners.

“It’s a great success for me to have won the gold here and beaten the four-time winner. I could never be sure of success, because I knew it would be a tight race,” Wilson Kiprop told the International Athletics Federation’s Web site (iaaf.org).

He made his half-marathon debut in Berlin 18 months ago, where he finished sixth in 60:34 minutes. This spring he ran his first marathon in Prague (Czech Republic), taking fifth in 2:09:09 hours. He improved his half-marathon PR to 59:39 in Lille (France) last September. Besides the longer distance races, he has proven himself twice in the 10,000 meters. He ran a blazing 27:26.93 minutes at altitude in Nairobi and then won the African championships, also held in the Kenyan capital, in 27:32.91.

Wilson Kiprop took to running in elementary school, but according to the IAAF Web site, he had to give up his schooling because of financial hardship and go to work. However, he never stopped running. Thanks to his recent success, he can now assure his siblings will be able to have an education.

In spite of the fact that Florence Kiplagat was only running her second half marathon, it still was no surprise that she won. The 23-year-old champion had debuted in the half marathon in Lille last September with an impressive 67:40. In addition, she had won the World Cross Country title in 2009. In the absence of the defending champion Mary Keitany (Kenya), Florence Kiplagat ran 68:24, which was ten seconds ahead of Dire Tune (Ethiopia). Peninah Arusei (Kenya) took the bronze in 69:05, while Feyse Tadese (Ethiopia/69:28) finished fourth.

“The competition was tough and it wasn’t easy, running in these conditions,” Florence recalled afterward. Soon after the start, the group filled with world-class Kenyans and Ethiopians. By 15K (reached in 48:42) two runners from each country were left in contention: Florence Kiplagat and Peninah Arusei wearing Kenyan colors and the Ethiopian duo of Dire Tune and Feyse Tadese. Soon after, it came down to a Kiplagat-Tune duel, which the Kenyan record holder for 10,000m (30:11.53) won decisively. Before 20K (65:06), Florence Kiplagat made what proved to be the decisive break. With two weeks remaining before she runs the Commerzbank Frankfurt Marathon in Germany, Dire Tune was content with her second-place showing. “The conditions didn’t make it easy,” she said.

Ethiopia’s Getu Feleke Runs Course Record in Amsterdam

Getu Feleke sets new course record in Amsterdam’s Olympic stadium. © Amsterdam-Marathon/Oranges Pictures

For the first time in the 35-year history of the Amsterdam Marathon, a runner broke the 2:06-hour barrier. The 23-year-old Ethiopian, Getu Feleke, delivered the course record that the race organizers had been hoping for with his time of 2:05:44. The Amsterdam race is now the tenth marathon worldwide to have a course record under 2:06. Berlin, Rotterdam, Dubai, London, Paris, Boston, Prague, Fukuoka and Chicago are the other races with similarly high-class winning times. The fastest woman on Sunday was the Kenyan, Alice Timberlili, who clocked 2:25:03. Taking other competitions held in parallel into account, over 31,000 athletes from 73 countries competed in the Amsterdam Marathon.

The race began in cool, but overall very good conditions with the lead group running fast early on. Ten athletes reached the half in 63:05, while 30K was passed in 1:29:43. Getu Feleke then went into the lead with approximately 6K to go. His finishing pace was so strong that only one rival could stay with him: the Kenyan marathon debutant, Wilson Chebet. But by 40K, Getu was alone with Wilson 15 seconds behind. Wilson Chebet ended up finishing second in 2:06:12—one of the fastest marathon debuts of all time. Once again, the Amsterdam Marathon impressed in terms of the elite men’s finishing times with a further four runners breaking 2:08. Chala Dechase was third in 2:07:23. The Ethiopian pair of Cherkos Feleke (2:07:29) and Haile Mekonnen (2:07:37) took fourth and fifth respectively, while Shadrack Kiplagat of Kenya finished behind them in 2:07:56.

Getu Feleke’s success in Amsterdam was the biggest win of his career. The Ethiopian had run three marathons previously. He made his debut in Vienna (Austria) in 2009, finishing seventh in 2:11:42. A year ago in Amsterdam (Netherlands), he improved his personal best to 2:09:32 (eighth place). In May, he finished fourth in Prague in 2:08:04. He has now improved his marathon personal best by 2 minutes and 20 seconds in his latest race to achieve the tenth-fastest time of the year. Getu Feleke improved the course record of 2:06:18. That mark had been set by Gilbert Yegon of Kenya a year ago.

The lead pack in the women’s race reached halfway in 1:12:32. The decisive move came shortly after 30K (1:43:57) when Alice Timbilili broke away from her Ethiopian rivals. The
27-year-old World Cross-Country silver medalist from 2005 then built a solid lead. She set a personal best of 2:25:03 to win by over two minutes ahead of Eyerusalem Kuma (Ethiopia/2:27:04). Robe Guta (2:27:44), Woinshet Girma (2:27:51) and Shitaye Bedaso (2:29:48), all Ethiopian runners, finished third through fifth respectively.