Birhanu Legese of Ethiopia and Kenya’s Cynthia Limo overcame a tough challenge to emerge champions in the men’s and women’s elite fields respectively at the Delhi Half Marathon here on a misty Sunday morning.
Legese clocked 59 minutes and 20 seconds to claim the top spot while his compatriot Mosinet Geremew was a second slower to finish second. Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadese, the world record holder in the half marathon, finished third in 59:24.
Tadese’s race was hampered after someone accidentally stepped on his shoe at the eight km mark, but he was happy with his performance.
“I took a break to tie my laces after someone stepped on my shoe. But I managed to catch the group and am glad I finished on podium,” said Tadese.
Legese, 21, notched up his second major half marathon title this year after winning in Berlin in March where he set his previous personal best of 59:45.
In Delhi, he was just 14 seconds outside the course record set in 2014 by another Ethiopian and defending champion, Guye Adola.
It was the first time this year that six athletes completed the half marathon inside 60 minutes.In the women’s category, it was heartbreak for two-time champion Florence Kiplagat from Kenya, who finished 12th. She failed to complete her hat-trick of titles at the event where the Kenyans had a clean sweep, bagging the first three places.
The competition in the women’s category was so fierce that only a fraction of a second separated Limo and second runner Helah Kiprop as they returned identical timings of 1:08:35.
Genet Yalew took the third position, finishing a second behind the top duo.Babar smashes course recordLalita Babar became the fastest women home athlete of all time in the event with 1:10:52 as she topped the elite Indian field. O.P. Jaisha (1:11:34) bagged the second spot ahead of Sudha Singh (1:11:46).
All of them broke Kavita Raut’s domestic record of one hour, 17 minutes and 12 seconds which was set in 2008.
Babar, winner here in 2010 and 2011, said she took the lead at the 14 km mark and never looked back.
Overall, the trio took the eighth, ninth and 10th positions respectively in the women’s section. In addition to the '3 lakh prize money, Lalita also took home an additional '1.5 lakh for breaking the course record at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium.
In the elite Indian men’s category, Nitender Singh Rawat finished the race in an hour and 41 seconds to emerge champion while Gopi T. was four seconds behind in the second. Mohammed Yunus claimed the third spot in 1:04:46.
