07.11.2021
| 50. New York-Marathon
Kenyans Albert Korir and Peres Jepchirchir won the 50th New York Marathon on Sunday, each earning a $100,000 bounty. Superstar Kenenisa Bekele, however, played no part in the fight for victory.
In very good weather conditions, Albert Korir ran to the biggest win of his career in New York on Sunday. The Kenyan won the anniversary race in 2:08:22 ahead of Moroccan Mohamed El Aaraby, who finished in 2:09:06. The Italian Eyob Faniel surprisingly finished third in 2:09:52 hours.
Ethiopia’s superstar Kenenisa Bekele played no role in the fight for victory. Only six weeks after his third place in Berlin (2:06:47 h), where he was not in the best form either, Bekele had to settle for sixth place in New York. With 2:12:52 hours, the 39-year-old ran over 2:10 hours for the first time in his career. However, he did not finish five of his 14 marathon races.
Great success for Korir
In the men’s race, Mohamed El Aaraby and Eyob Faniel made an advance after around twelve kilometers. The Moroccan and the Italian broke away from the leading group and at times had a very large lead. At the half-marathon mark, they were already 51 seconds ahead of the seven-man chasing group with a time of 63:57 minutes. After almost 25 kilometers, the half-marathon world record holder Kibiwott Kandie, who made his debut on the difficult, bumpy course in New York, and Albert Korir, who was second there two years ago, started their race to catch up. The chasing group fell apart and Kenenisa Bekele lost more and more ground.
Within five kilometers, Kandie and Korir had caught up a good 40 seconds behind. Almost exactly at kilometer 30 (1:30:50 h) they had caught up with the leading duo and passed them, whereby Eyob Faniel was able to keep up for a short time. The Italian and Kibiwott Kandie soon fell behind, however, allowing 27-year-old Albert Korir to run towards the biggest win of his career. In recent years he had already won the marathon races in Vienna (Austria; 2017), Houston and Ottawa (USA and Canada; 2019 each). His best time is 2:08:03 hours and did not make him one of the big favorites. “I didn’t think I could win today. But this is the result of my three months of preparation for this race,” said Albert Korir.
Strong debut by Viola Cheptoo Lagat
About three months after her marathon Olympic victory in Sapporo, Peres Jepchirchir showed another high-class race. The Kenyan won with a strong last kilometer in 2:22:39 hours, just ahead of her compatriot Viola Cheptoo (2:22:44 hours) and Ethiopian Ababel Yeshaneh (2:22:52 hours). Peres Jepchirchir missed the now 18-year-old course record of her compatriot Margaret Okayo (2:22:31 h) by just eight seconds.
In the women’s group, a group of nine runners had reached the half marathon mark after 72:43 minutes. Ten kilometers before the finish line, the three-person leading group formed and stayed together until the last kilometer: alongside Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir, former half marathon world record holder Ababel Yeshaneh and Viola Cheptoo Lagat ran. The sister of the former world-class runner Bernard Lagat (Kenya/USA) ran a very strong marathon debut. But in the last kilometer neither she nor Ababel Yeshaneh had a chance against Peres Jepchirchir. “It’s a great honor to be among the winners of the New York Marathon,” said Peres Jepchirchir. “The preparation time was tight (after the Olympics), but I did my best.”
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