KIBET BREAKS MILANO MARATHON COURSE RECORD
By David Monti
(c) 2008 Race Results Weekly, all rights Reserved - used with permission
Full Results
The glass is at least half-full for the organizers of the Samsung Milano City Marathon.
Although
Kenyan Duncan Kibet vanquished Benson Cherono's 2006 course record by
five seconds when he crossed the finish line in the Piazza Castello
this morning in 2:07:53, he fell eight seconds short of their stated
goal of surpassing Simeretu Alemayehu's Italian all-comers record of
2:07:45 set in Torino in 2001.
The lead pack of six was slightly
behind course record schedule when they passed the half-way point in
64:02. Kibet was with his key rivals and compatriots Elias Kemboi
Chelimo, Leonard Mucheru, course record-holder Cherono, Elijah Keitany
and Moroccan Rachid Kisri. By the 30-K mark, the Kenyans were still
together, but Kisri had slid back by four seconds. In the next 5 km,
Cherono and Keitany dropped out, leaving Kibet, Chelimo and Mucheru to
fight it out for the win.
Kibet, who had been second at the
Vienna City Marathon in his debut last April, was clearly the strongest
athlete in the final kilometers. He surged ahead of his two rivals,
and by the time he hit the finish tape he was ahead by the better part
of a minute. Chelimo won the battle for second, setting a personal
best of 2:08:39. Mucheru, who had run for a time for Bahrain as Musir
Salem Jawher, also set a personal best in third in 2:10:05.
In
the women's race Italian Anna Incerti was an upset winner over Kenyan
Pamela Chepchumba, the defending champion and course record holder.
The two women were together at the half-way mark in 1:14:01, and
remained together through 35 km in 2:03:16. Incerti dropped Chepchumba
in the final four kilometers of the race, romping to a 52-second
victory in 2:27:42. It was the first victory here by an Italian women
since Lucilla Andreucci made the top of the podium in the inaugural
year of the race in 2000. Ethiopian veteran Merima Deniboba finished
third in 2:29:57.
For Incerti, 28, her time was a big personal
best, easily surpassing the 2:30:55 mark she achieved when she finished
14th at the Beijing Olympic Marathon last August. She also ran the
fastest marathon by an Italian woman since Bruna Genovese clocked
2:27:35 one year ago in Tokyo.
The event recorded 4071 finishers, but just 371 were women. 5875 athletes had entered the race.
ENDS
