Running News Daily

Course record broken at the Beijing Marathon

Kenya’s Mathew Kipkoech Kisorio broke away in the final 10 kilometres of the Beijing Marathon to rewrite the men’s course record at the IAAF Gold Label road race on Sunday (3).

The 30-year-old clocked 2:07:06 to earn his second victory over the classic distance, knocking 10 seconds off the course record set six years ago by Ethiopia’s 2013 world bronze medallist Tadese Tola.

“It is my first time to run in Beijing and I am very happy to win and to break the course record,” said Kisorio, who set his PB of 2:04:53 last year in Valencia. “The weather was fantastic. I expect to come to Beijing again next year.”

Starting under cloudy and drizzling skies with the temperature ranging from 7-10C, the race was fast from the outset. Four runners – Bazu Worku of Ethiopia, Kisorio and his compatriots Emmanuel Rutto and Solomon Kirwa Yego – led the race to 25km.

Worku, a three-time winner of the Houston Marathon, was the first to fade away after 28km, while 36-year-old Rutto quit the title contest after 30km. After another two kilometres, Kisorio broke away from Yego to move into a sole lead.

The 2017 Daegu Marathon winner was well on track to break the course record at 35km, reached in 1:45:10, and kept pushing ahead before hit the line in 2:07:06. Yego trailed by more than two minutes to finish second in 2:09:45. Rutto clocked 2:10:15 to finish third.

Ethiopia’s Sutume Asefa, 24, ran alone for most of the women’s race and scored her first marathon title in 2:23:31, trimming 29 seconds off her PB set in Dubai three years ago.

China’s Li Zhixuan, the sixth-place finisher in Beijing last year, took second place in 2:29:06. Pre-race favourite Mulu Seboka, the fastest entrant in the field with a PB of 2:21:56, finished third in 2:29:09.

“I am satisfied with second place but the time is kind of slower than I expected,” said the 25-year-old Li, who set a PB of 2:26:15 in Nagoya eight months ago.

The last time a Chinese runner managed to earn a podium finish in the country’s most prestigious road race was in 2014, when Gong Lihua finished third in the women’s race.

Ethiopia’s Mekuant Ayenew returns to the Chinese capital aiming to regain the title he took three years ago at the Beijing Marathon

The 28-year-old Ayenew, who set his 2:09:00 PB at the 2017 Prague Marathon, clocked 2:11:09 to earn his first international marathon victory in 2016 at the most prestigious road running race in China, which was first launched in 1981.

It will be Ayenew’s third appearance in Beijing as he also finished seventh with 2:15:16 two years ago. His familiarity of the course, which starts at the landmark Ti’anmen Square and ends outside the Olympic Stadium, will be a big advantage for Ayenew. But retaining the title will not be an easy task as Ayenew will face a quality field that includes several sub 2:05 runners.

Fellow Ethiopian Endeshaw Negesse is the fastest man on paper with a personal best of 2:04:52 set in Dubai back in 2013. Negesse came close to that mark two years later when he won in Tokyo with 2:06:00, but his only race since then was a 17th-place finish in Dubai in 2:26:27.

Kenya’s Mathew Kipkoech Kisorio, meanwhile, is a serious title contender in Beijing. The 30-year-old improved his PB to 2:04:53 last year when he finished third in Valencia and clocked 2:06:36 to finish second at the Paris Marathon last April.

The men’s field also includes Bazu Worku of Ethiopia, a three-time winner of the Houston Marathon with a PB of 2:05:25, as well as Kenyan duo Evans Korir and Solomon Kirwa Yego, who both have sub-2:07 career-best times and both have broken 2:08 in 2019.

Mulu Seboka of Ethiopia is the fastest entrant in the women’s field. The 35-year-old owns a PB of 2:21:56, set in Dubai in 2015, and has won three straight races in China since 2018 with two victories in Dalian and one in Shenzhen. She clocked 2:27:19 in May to retain her title in Dalian.

Compatriots Sutume Asefa and Letebrhan Haylay are also among the favourites. With a best of 2:24:00, Asefa is the slightly quicker of the two women but is yet to win a marathon, while Haylay set a PB of 2:24:47 to break the course record at the Dongying Yellow River Marathon last year.

Kenya’s 2018 Daegu Marathon champion Janet Jelagat Rono, a 2:26:03 performer at her best, is another woman to watch.

Li Zhixuan is China’s best hope for the title on Sunday. The 25-year-old is the fastest Chinese woman this year as she clocked 2:26:15 in Nagoya in March, improving her PB by more than four minutes. She will be hoping to improve on her sixth-place finish from last year.

The last time Chinese runners took the top honours at Beijing Marathon dates back to 2013, when Zhang Yingying clocked 2:31:19 to extend China’s winning streak in the women’s race to 22 years.

Strong men’s field is set for the Prague Marathon this weekend

Mathew Kipkoech Kisorio, who recorded a lifetime best of 2:04:53 in Valencia last year starts as the fastest in the men’s field, but he may still be feeling the effects of the Eldoret Marathon, which he won two weeks ago in 2:12:38.

Al Mahjoub Dazza finished just half a minute behind Kisorio in Valencia in December, clocking a Moroccan record of 2:05:26 in what was just his second marathon to date.

He contested the Birell Grand Prix in Prague in 2017 so will be vaguely familiar with the streets of the Czech capital.

Kisorio’s brother, Peter Kimeli Some, is the third athlete in the field whose PB is quicker than Prague’s course record of 2:05:39. Some clocked 2:05:38 to win the 2013 Paris Marathon and came just a minute short of that mark when finishing third in Daegu last year in 2:06:49.

Amos Kipruto reached the podium at two World Marathon Majors last year, placing third in Tokyo in 2:06:33 and then clocking 2:06:23 to finish second to Eliud Kipchoge when the Kenyan set the world record of 2:01:39 in Berlin.

One year prior, Kipruto won in Seoul in 2:05:54 and followed it with a PB of 2:05:43 in Amsterdam.

Solomon Kirwa Yego also set his PB in Valencia last year, clocking 2:06:24 for eighth place. This will be his second marathon in Prague, following his 2016 run – his debut at the distance – when he finished third in 2:08:31.

Other strong Kenyans in the field include Paul Maina and 2009 world half marathon silver medallist Bernard Kiprop Kipyego.

Ethiopia’s Aychew Bantie, the runner-up in Kosice last year in a PB of 2:08:15, will also be on the start line alongside Ukrainian Olympian Oleksandr Sitkovskyy and Spain’s Hamid Ben Dauod