Brigid Kosgei and Yomif Kejelcha highlight an exciting weekend of athletics action

Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei’s dominant run at the Lisbon half marathon—where she won it by a margin of over 3 minutes against her nearest competitor—has left fans wondering what she will be capable of achieving at the London Marathon next month. Despite warm and humid conditions, the former marathon world record holder won the race in 1:05:51 ahead of Ethiopia’s Bosena Mulatie and Tigist Mengistu, who ran 1:09:00 and 1:09:14, respectively.

Brigid Kosgei, Chicago Marathon 2019, by Kevin Morris

“This was preparation for the London Marathon next month. I’m really happy. I appreciate what I have run today. Thanks to the organizers, I appreciate what you have done,” Kosgei said after the race.After Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa lowered her world record mark of 2:14:04 to 2:11:53 in September last year, Kosgei’s run here in Lisbon could indicate that she might be plotting to reclaim the record.

Tigist Assefa, WR of 2:11.53, Berlin Marathon, photo by Kevin Morris

The Villa De Laredo 10K was another race that lived up to its hype as Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha ran a spectacular solo run, just to fade towards the end and miss the world record as he recorded the third fastest time in history of 26:37. Finishing behind him was Uganda’s reigning and three-time world 10,000m champion, Joshua Cheptegei, who registered an Olympic qualifying time of 26:53.

Yomif KEJELCHA won the Men’s 5000m with a time of 12:46.91 at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Zurich on 31 August 2023. Photo by Diamond League AG.

“I came to Laredo to break the world record, but it was impossible. Around the eighth kilometer, I felt some discomfort in my hip and could not maintain my speed,” said Kejelcha.

The weekend of March 16th to 17th witnessed what seemed to be the weekend with the most races happening across the world.

Kenyan men dominated all the top ten positions, except the 9th, at the Rome Marathon, where Asbel Kiprop Rutto set a new course record of 2:06:24. They did the same at the New Taipei Marathon, won by Cyrus Mutai in 2:09:31, where they only spared the 5th of the top ten positions for an Ethiopian runner.

Edna Kiplagat, 127th Boston Marathon
April 17, 2023, photo by Kevin Morris

Kenya’s 44-year-old Ednah Kiplagat and Ethiopia’s 41-year-old Kenenisa Bekele continued to inspire as they competed against the new generation of runners at the New York City half marathon. Kiplagat finished third in the women’s race in 1:09:46, while Bekele was 7th in the men’s race after running 1:03:59.

Kenya’s Grace Loibach Nawowuna got the Olympics qualifying time after running 30:25 to win the Lille 10K race in France. In California, US, Grant Fisher won the Sound Running The Ten 10,000m event in 26:52.04 in a tight race that saw seven other runners behind him hit the Olympic qualifying times of under 27 minutes.

Grant Fisher wins in 26:52.04!
The Ten by Sound Running
March, 16, 2024, photo by Kevin Morris

Author

Justin Lagat
Since 2013, Justin Lagat has written for RunBlogRun. His weekly column is called A view from Kenya. Justin writes about the world of Kenyan athletics on a weekly basis and during championships, provides us additional insights into the sport.
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