New Delhi: Kenya’s Alex Matata was cruising to the end however Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei stole victory with an exciting late cost within the Elite Males’s class of the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon right here on Sunday.
Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei wins the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon, at JLN stadium in New Delhi on Sunday. (PTI)
Cheptegei, the Paris Olympics 10,000m champion and the 5,000m gold medallist in Tokyo, clocked 59 minutes, 46 seconds in a superb transition from monitor to highway operating. Matata, the race chief for essentially the most half, got here second in 59:53 with Kenyan compatriot Nicholas Kipkorir third (59:59).
Ethiopia’s Alemaddis Eyayu (1 hr, 08 min, 17secs) gained the ladies’s elite race, forward of Kenyan favorite Cynthia Limo (1:08:27). Tiruye Mesfin of Ethiopia (1:09:42) completed third.
The nice and cozy and humid circumstances made it powerful for the runners. Alemaddis collapsed on the turf on finishing the race, grimacing. Lili Das, the perfect Indian within the ladies’s elite class, badly cramped and was in sheer agony and on her abdomen on crossing the end.
Within the males’s race, the highest trio pushed one another for a sub-60 minutes end however stated the humidity made it troublesome to maintain up the tempo.
Noone would know higher than Matata, who had a cushty lead over Cheptegei and Kipkorir. There was sufficient drama although for the spectators on the ultimate stretch coming into the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
“When I pushed to the 18km, I felt the humidity was not good for me. There was lot of humidity and I felt like stitches on myself. In fact, I thought I was already a winner, but unfortunately my senior (Joshua) came from nowhere and (won). I appreciate it because this race was not easy for everybody,” stated Matata.
It was with three kilometres to go that Cheptegei elevated his tempo, first catching up with Kipkorir after which placing Matata beneath stress. He closed the hole as Matata slowed down with fatigue. With barely 800m to go, Cheptegei went previous Matata contained in the stadium and had sufficient in his tank to comfortably pull via.
Cheptegei, 28, additionally the reigning 10,000m world champion, is making his foray into highway operating after his stupendous success in distance occasions on the monitor. On Sunday, he confirmed why he could be on the prime of the world in marathons too.
“Today was a very special day because it was one of those races where you test your mind. For me, in the beginning, I was feeling some problems with the feet, the nails. But then I was persisting, and then I said, “okay, maybe I can fight for that place”,” Cheptegei stated.
With each kilometre in the direction of the tip, Cheptegei was assessing his plans. “I was feeling again okay; by 16-17 kilometers I said “it’s just four km to go, let me see if I can catch my friend Nicholas”. From there, we pushed one another from 19 as much as 20. Then I noticed that even No.1 was attainable.”
“I want to thank my colleagues, Alex, and my longtime friend Nicholas. We’ve been running with Nicholas for a couple of years now, whether it’s cross-country or track, whether it is the Olympics or (world) championships. So, this is really a great pleasure to run with incredible athletes like them.”
Ethiopians have dominated the Delhi half marathon and Alemaddis maintained the custom among the many ladies. Kenya’s Cynthia Limo, who gained the title right here in 2015, and the opposite Ethiopian Tiruye Mesfin additionally stayed within the hunt till Alemaddis pulled away midway into the race, maintained her lead until the tip.
“I had a good race. I tried to keep my pace and aimed to finish well,” Alemaddis stated.
Sawan wins; Lili-Kavita tussle
Sawan Barwal impressed with a powerful end, clocking 1:02:46 to win the Indian contest. The Himachal Pradesh runner completed forward of Puneet Yadav (1:03:55) with Kiran Matre (1:04:58) coming third.
There was some controversy amongst Indian ladies with defending champion Kavita Yadav accusing winner Lili Das of “disturbing me”. Lili, operating her first half marathon, clocked 1:18:12 whereas Kavita got here second at 1:19:44. Asian Video games 3,000m steeplechase bronze medallist Priti Lamba was third (1:20:20).
“When she broke away from the group after 12km and then I came behind her, she kept telling me “don’t run behind me, maintain distance or run beside me”. She saved disturbing me from there on. I’ve by no means confronted this earlier than,” stated Kavita.
Lili denied that. “I didn’t disturb her. I just told her to run beside me, we can take the race together. I am a good finisher because I do 800 and 1500m. I was confident of winning and I continued with the same pace. Maybe we spoke a bit, but it is not right that you complain about me in public. The entire road is there to run,” stated Lili, who hails from Kolkata and trains in Bengaluru.