Africa-Press – Kenya. Kenyan athletes continued to display their supremacy in athletics at the Valencia Marathon in Spain on Sunday, October 24.
Abel Kipchumba emerged victorious in the half marathon in the 30th Valencia Trinidad Alfonso EDP Half Marathon clocking a time of 58:07.
Kipchumba’s finish time became the best world mark of 2021 as he was 41 seconds faster than his previous 58:48 speed.
His finish time put him in place on the world all-time list, placing him sixth on the charts.
Kipchumba was closely followed by his compatriots, Rhonex Kipruto and Daniel Mateiko, who clocked at 58:09 and 58:26 respectively.
In the top 10 finish list, Ethiopian Muktar Edris came in sixth position as the only non-Kenyan in the list.
Meanwhile, Kipchumba’s triumph came only days after he took the top honours in the Road To Records half marathon with a world lead time at the Adidas headquarters in Herzogenaurach, Germany.
The half marathon men race world record is currently being held by Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie who clocked a time 57:32 at the Valencia Trinidad Alfonso EDP Half Marathon on December 6, 2020.
He led 1-2-3 Kenyan podium finishes as he stunned the fastest three race favourites who included Kenya’s Alfred Barkach, Ethiopian Girma Bekele Gebre and Teklemariam Medhin of Eritrea.
In the women’s race, Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey won the half marathon in a world record of 1:03:51.
Coming second was Yalemzerf Yehualaw with 1:03:51 as Kenyan Sheila Chepkirui finished third clocking a time of 1:04:54.
The 23-year-old Gidey, broke the record by more than a minute off the previous half marathon mark of 1:04:02 set by Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich this year.
Ruth Chepngetich had smashed the record set by Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh in February last year.
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