Peres Jepchirchir was the favorite in the New York marathon, which she was discovering, and the Tokyo Olympic champion showed that she was indeed the boss by settling Viola Cheptoo Lagat and Ababel Yeshaneh a few hundred meters from the finish. On arrival, the 28-year-old Kenyan crossed the line in 2h22’39’, 8 seconds from the event record. Cheptoo, younger sister of the great Bernard Lagat, completed her very first marathon in 2h22’44”, third place going to the Ethiopian Yeshaneh in 2h22’52”.
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Nine weeks after her Olympic title, the 28-year-old Kenyan has offered herself a unique Olympics-New York double in the history of the women’s marathon. “It was really the plan to win the New York Marathon after the gold medal at the Olympic Games, so even if the preparation was short, I am happy to have achieved this goal”said Jepchirchir. “I’m really happy that I was able to be in a position to win in my first marathoncommented for his part Viola Cheptoo. Peres was kind enough to allow me to follow his running advice from the 26 or 27th km. I knew that if I followed her, I could make a top finish. We were able to work together to win. I kinda regret not having started running this distance sooner…”
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Korir takes revenge, Bekele struggles
A few minutes later, the Kenyan Albert Korir won the men’s race in 2h08’22” after a breathless race. Korir, second in 2019, returned to a breakaway duo, Moroccan Mohamed El Aaraby and Italian Eyob Faniel, finally 2nd and 3rd. Mohamed El Aaraby finished in 2h09’06, shattering his record by 10 seconds, and Faniel in 2h09’52”.
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“I couldn’t wait for this race in New York, I was very excited after 2019 (2e). Halfway through the race I got a little tired, but I knew if I pushed it would be special.”to réagi Albert Korir. “After all the plane troubles I had, once I arrived, I said to myself that it was all for a reason…”, insisted on underlining Mohamed El Aaraby.
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Kenenisa Bekele, headliner of this marathon, was non-existent from the 10th kilometer, leaving the animation of the race to others. The Ethiopian legend has visibly not recovered from the Berlin Marathon, completed in 2:06 just six weeks ago. Bekele, 39, finished 6th in 2h12’52”, ahead of Kibiwott Kandie (9th in 2h13’43”), who totally exploded in the last kilometers after leading the race with Korir. The half-marathon world record holder was discovering the distance.
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