Kenyans reign supreme at Valencia Marathon

Kenyans extended their prowess on the roads once again as the trio of Kibiwott Kandie, Evans Chebet and Peres Jepchirchir clinched the titles in their respective races at Sunday's Valencia Marathon.

World Half Marathon silver medalist Kandie set a world record of 57:32 to win the half marathon race, smashing the previous record of 58:01 by Geoffrey Kamworor.

It was sweet revenge for Kandie as he beat Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo, who beat him to the title at the World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland in October.

Kiplimo clocked 57:37 while world Under 20 10, 000m champion Rhonex  Kipruto who finished in 57:49 on his debut over the distance.

“I had intensified my preparations for this race in the last seven weeks and I am grateful that the hard work paid off. I had analysed my weaknesses in my previous races and have been working on avoiding them,” Kandie said.

Kiplimo and Kipruto — as well as fourth-placed Alexander Mutiso – finished inside Kamworor's previous world record, set at the 2019 Copenhagen Half Marathon.

“I ran this race strategically and had planned to kick in the last 5km. It was my plan to be out of sight such that Kiplimo or anyone else would not catch up easily. In Gdynia, I pushed myself all the way but still lost to him so this motivated me that I could do better and possibly break the world record,” he said.

His win laid down a marker for his compatriots Chebet and Jepchirchir, who excelled in their respective full marathon races.

In the men’s edition, Chebet tore the formbook to emerge victorious in 2:03:00, which is the fastest marathon time this year and the sixth-fastest of all time.

The little-known Kenyan overtook reigning Boston and Chicago Marathon champion Lawrence Cherono in the final 300m.

Cherono, who had been fancied to win the race, finished in 2:03:04 ahead of Ethiopian Birhanu Legese (2:03:16).

Subsequently, the Chebet was elated with his surprise win.

“I thank God for the win although I had not anticipated the victory. The much I had hoped for was a podium finish. This win now gives me the impetus to push on for other marathons next year, especially the Boston Marathon,” Chebet said.

Having finished four seconds behind the victor, Cherono’s time is the seventh fastest in the history of marathon races.

In the women’s race, world half marathon record holder Jepchirchir led a 1-2 Kenyan finish ahead of former record holder Joycilline Jepkosgei.

Jepchirchir finished in a personal best of 2:17:16 to set a new course record in the Spanish city ahead of Jepkosgei who also clocked a personal best of 2:18:40. 

Ethiopian Zeineba Yimer  finished third in 2:19:54.

“I had trained hard and prayed for an opportunity to improve on my personal best, which I did. My focus is now on next year to better this personal best by reducing it to 2:15:00 or 2:14:00,” Jepchirchir said.

Jepchirchir expressed her willingness to compete at the rescheduled 2020 Tokyo Olympics provided Athletics Kenya extends her an invitation into Team Kenya.

In the women's half marathon, Sheila Chepkirui finished second in 1:05:39, behind Ethiopia's Genzebe Dibaba who won the race in 1:05:18. 

Kenya's Dorcas Tuitoek (1:07:18) and Brenda Jepleting (1:08:47) finished in fourth and sixth, respectively.

The dominance was redemption for Kenya after a disappointing night at Saturday’s World Athletics Awards where all Kenyan nominees left empty-handed.

Athletics Kenya, who were nominated for the Federation of the Year award, lost to the Polish Athletics Association.

On the other hand, Jepchirchir lost out to Venezuelan triple jumper and world record holder Yulimar Rojas for the female athlete of the year award.

World 1500m men’s champion Timothy Cheruiyot, who was among the initial nominees for the male athlete of the year, did not make the eventual shortlist in the men’s category.