|
Kenya’s Kibiwott Kandie
ran one of the most incredible races in history on Sunday
morning at the Valencia Half-Marathon. He smashed fellow
Kenyan Geoffrey Kamworor‘s half-marathon world record
of 58:01, running 57:32 to take the win and lead three
other men to sub-58-minute results. There is a lot to
unpack from this run, and while there will certainly be
more stats to come, here are a few of the most mind-boggling
numbers Kandie and his competitors produced on Sunday.
Four men under 58
When Kamworor ran his 58:01 in Copenhagen last year, it
looked like he put the half-marathon world record out
of reach for a while. Amazingly, four men beat his time
on Sunday, and they became the first runners to break
58 minutes in the event. Before his race in Valencia,
Kandie owned the fifth-best time in history with a personal
best of 58:38, which he ran in Prague in September. He
improved that time by more than a minute on Sunday to
shatter his PB and the world record. Second place went
to world half-marathon champion Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda,
who finished just behind Kandie in 57:37 to beat his previous
best time of 58:49. For Kenyan 10K world record holder
Rhonex Kipruto, Valencia was his debut half-marathon.
He finished in third place, running the fastest debut
in history with a 57:49. Finally, not far behind Kipruto
was fourth-place finisher Alexander Mutiso, also Kenyan,
who beat his PB by more than a minute as he finished just
under 58 minutes in 57:59.
Three remarkable splits
The lead group consisted of five men until about 19K.
Kiplimo led the group through 5K in 13:36 (the other four
men officially passed through a second later in 13:37).
This matches the Canadian 5K record. The leaders passed
through 10K in 27:24, which is almost a full minute faster
than any Canadian has ever run (Paul McCloy owns the national
record of 28:17). This is also a top-25 result all-time
in the world rankings, and only one European man has ever
run faster (Switzerland’s Julien Wanders owns the
European record of 27:13). At 15K, the group posted a
41:10 split. This time is just five seconds slower than
Joshua Cheptegei‘s 15K world record of 41:05, and
the leaders still managed to hold onto their blistering
pace for another 6K.
Three races, one second apart
Valencia marked the third meeting between Kandie and Kiplimo.
In 2019, they raced a 15K in Brazil, where Kandie surged
past Kiplimo at the line to take the win by one second.
At the world championships in October, Kiplimo won by
five seconds over Kandie, which was the same margin of
victory for Kandie on Sunday. In their three races together,
the two men have run 57K, and a total of just one second
separates their cumulative times. Kandie is 24 years old
and Kiplimo is just 20, meaning the running world could
be treated to many more years of this already thrilling
rivalry.
Four half-marathons, four
sub-59 runs
Fewer than 30 men have ever run a sub-59 half-marathon,
but in each of Kandie’s races this year, he has
done just that. He opened the season with a 58:58 at the
RAK Half in the United Arab Emirates, ran a 58:38 in Prague
in September, posted a 58:54 in Poland at the worlds and
finally became the first man to run under 58 minutes on
Sunday in Valencia. Kandie now has more sub-59-minute
results than anyone else in history, and he ran them all
in less than a year.
More history in Valencia
: In the marathon Evans Chebet
outkicks Lawrence Cherono to win, 2:03:00 to 2:03:04.
Chebet now 6th all-time, Cherono 7th.
Birhanu Legese third in 2:03:16, Amos
Kipruto fourth in 2:03:33. Making this the first race
in history with four men under 2:04:00.
The Valencia course is obviously fast.
After seeing a world record in the half-marathon (where
the top four broke the old mark), the marathon becomes
the first race to see four men run under 2:04:00 at one
time.
|
219.jpg)
