Melak and Ayana win Lisbon Half Marathon

Nibret Melak and Almaz Ayana achieved an Ethiopian double at the EDP Lisbon Half Marathon on Sunday (12), clocking respective times of 59:06 and 1:05:30 at the World Athletics Elite Label road race.

Melak was content to sit back as his compatriot Hagos Gebrhiwet and Kenya’s Rhonex Kipruto went through 5km on world record pace, the pair clocking 13:32 for a split eight seconds faster than Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo ran at that point en route to his 57:31 world half marathon record set in Lisbon in November 2021. Melak was 10 seconds behind them.

But they couldn’t sustain that pace and the leaders reached 10km in 28:11.

Melak closed the gap over the next couple of kilometres and with Kenya’s Vincent Ngetich Kipkemoi to the fore, that quartet passed 15km in 41:47.

Kipruto, who set the world 10km record of 26:24 in Valencia in January 2020, was struggling to keep contact by 20km and as the finish line neared, Melak kicked.

Making his half marathon debut, the 23-year-old managed to hold off Olympic and world 5000m medallist Gebrhiwet, winning by one second after a sprint finish. Kipkemoi was third in 59:10 and Kipruto fourth in 59:22.

New Zealand’s Jake Robertson completed the top five, running 1:00:05.

In the women’s race, Ayana ran alongside her compatriot Girmawit Gebrzihair and behind her pacemaker, passing 5km in 15:27. They formed part of an eight-strong group at that point.

They broke away with Kenya’s two-time world track medallist Margaret Kipkemboi and Ethiopia’s Tiruye Mesfin, reaching 10km in 31:06.

The race was down to Ayana, Kipkemboi and Gebrzihair by 15km, which they passed in 46:37, and Ayana continued to move away, eventually claiming victory by 20 seconds ahead of Kipkemboi, who ran 1:05:50 for the runner-up spot.

Gebrzihair was third in 1:06:28, Mesfin fourth in 1:06:31 and Kenya’s Purity Komen fifth in 1:07:08.

posted Sunday March 12th