Lornah Kiplagat © www.photorun.net
Lornah Kiplagat, born in Kenya but running for the Netherlands, achieved the crowning performance at the World Half Marathon Championships in Udine, Italy. The 32 year old not only won the gold medal but also broke world records for 20K and the half marathon. Kiplagat’s time of 66:25 minutes was 19 seconds faster than the 66:44 Elana Meyer (South Africa) had run in Tokyo eight years ago. On the way to a triumph, Kiplagat went through 20 kilometers in 63:21. That was 24 seconds faster than her own world best, which she set in the World Road Running Championships in Hungary a year ago. Although Paula Radcliffe ran 65:40 for the half-marathon in Newcastle in 2003, the downhill on that point-to-point course meant that the time could not be recognized as a record. The defending men’s champion was also victorious in Udine: Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadesse won an exciting race in 58:59.
“Today everything went perfectly for me,” said Kiplagat. “Four kilometers from the finish I realized that I could get the world record. The spectators were calling out to me. Over the last two kilometers I was constantly looking at the clock on the lead vehicle, and knew I could do it.” The win in Udine was Kiplagat’s second world title of the year, following her win at March’s World Cross Country Championships. She missed the track world championships in Osaka because of a calf injury.
Kiplagat’s former compatriots were her closest rivals in Udine. Mary Keitany, who was only 2 seconds behind at 15K, won silver in a Kenyan record of 66:48. Third was another Kenyan runner, Pamela Chepchumba (68:06).
It was only in the final kilometers that Tadesse broke clear of the four-strong leading group in the men’s race, held separately in Udine. The 25-year-old defending champion surged 57 minutes into the race, and by the finish was 3 seconds clear of Kenyan Patrick Makau Musyoki, who ran 59:02. Third was Evans Cheruiyot (Kenya, 59:05). An equally world-class time was achieved by the Ethiopian Deriba Merga (59:16), who had shared the lead for much of the race. The world record holder, Sammy Wanjiru (Kenya), finished back in 51st place in 63:31, suffering from knee problems. Defending New York City Marathon champion Marilson dos Santos served notice that he will be a factor in New York in three weeks, as he placed seventh in a Brazilian national record of 59:33.
KIMbia Strong in San Jose
McDonald Ondara outkicked KIMbia’s John Yuda to win the San Jose Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon in California. Ondara ran 61:11, two seconds ahead of Yuda, who had paced the lead pack through halfway at the previous week’s Chicago Marathon. KIMbia’s Tom Nyariki and Charles Munyeki took fourth and fifth place, in 62:17 and 62:58, respectively, a week after running the BAA Half Marathon in Boston, where Nyariki won.
Former marathon world record holder Khalid Khannouchi could manage only a time of 1:05:04, good for 13th place. With the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials only three weeks away, Khannouchi doesn’t appear to be in top form; he admitted after the race that he had hoped to run 1:03 hours. At the same time, in recent years Khannouchi has often run sub-par races soon before producing a good marathon. In 2006, for example, he barely broke 24:00 for 8K a couple of weeks before running 2:07 at the London Marathon.
Falk Cierpinski Wins Munich Marathon
The Munich Marathon, which attracted around 10,000 participants in all events, did not produce world-class results, but did have a men’s champion worthy of note. Falk Cierpinski, the 28-year-old son of double Olympic champion Waldemar Cierpinski, ran 2:25:26 to earn his first marathon victory. Only two weeks before, he was the first German runner in the Berlin Marathon, where he improved his personal best to 2:19:04. The background to this double start was the jackpot prize money, linked to the Munich Triathlon, offered by the organizers. Cierpinski won the triathlon in the summer, and has now earned himself 10,000 Euros. He intends to use the money to finance a training camp in Kenya. His objective is to gain the Olympic qualifying time in the marathon for Beijing 2008.
