Lilian Kasait, the fourth fastest woman in half marathon history, has been drafted into the stellar cast for the Antrim Coast 21km race set for August 25 in Northern Ireland.
The 28-year-old's time of 1:03:32, set during her third-place finish at the 2024 Valencia Half Marathon, places her fourth on the all-time list of fastest women over 21km.
Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey holds the women’s mark over the distance with her 1:02:52 triumph from Valencia 2021. Agnes Ngetich (1:03:04) and Ethiopian Fotyen Tesfay (1:03:21) sit in second and third place.
Antrim organisers have tipped Kasait’s debut on their course as a key highlight of this year’s event. “Kasait’s debut on the Antrim Coast is expected to be one of the highlights of the international season,” the organisers said in a statement.
The 28-year-old will be hoping to secure her second straight Half Marathon victory of the season after a commanding display in Prague on April 5. In that race, she stopped the clock in 1:05:27 to claim the title, outkicking compatriot Veronica Loleo (1:06:40) and Ethiopian Sentayehu Lewetegn (1:08:41).
The Antrim showdown will mark only her third career appearance over the 21km distance, having announced her arrival with a stunning debut in Valencia that placed her among the event’s all-time greats.
Kasait has proven her pedigree in the road races with two third-place finishes in the 10K from last year in the Valencia 10K (29:32) and the Hong Kong 10K (31:12).
That same year, she won the Bengaluru 10k, stopping the clock in 30:56 ahead of Ethiopians Lemlem Hailu (31:23) and Aberash Minsewo (31:23).
Over the 5K distance, the Kasait is a past winner of Al Khobar 2023 (14:33), a silver medallist from the World Road Running Championships in Riga, Latvia (14:39), and a podium finisher in both Barcelona 2023 (14:26) and Al Khobar 2024 (14:50). At Antrim, she will battle a formidable field led by 2024 European Half Marathon champion Karoline Grovdal of Norway and bronze medallist Calli Hauger-Thackery of Britain as well as Ethiopia’s Bertukan Welde.
Before jetting off to Northern Ireland, Kasait is set to compete at the Kenyan 10,000m World Championships Trials slated for next Tuesday at Nairobi’s Ulinzi Sports Complex.
Kasait will be hoping to punch her ticket to Tokyo for a third appearance at the global spectacle.
Her maiden appearance came at the Doha 2019 championships, where she placed fifth over the 5,000m (14:36.05), with her second appearance coming in Budapest 2023, where she finished 10th (14:59.32) over the same distance. In Nairobi, she will face a loaded field featuring World record holder Beatrice Chebet, World 10K record holder Agnes Ngetich, Loice Chemnung, Rebecca Mwangi, Gladys Kwamboka, Miriam Chebet, Grace Loibach, Pamela Kosgei, Catherine Amanang’ole and Janeth Chepng’etich.
