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From: Biniam Tekle (biniamt@dehai.org)
Date: Sat Oct 16 2010 - 14:47:33 EDT
http://www.kbc.co.ke/news.asp?nid=67011
Kenya's Kiprop dethrones Tadese
Written By:Kennedy Langat/agencies, Posted: Sat, Oct 16, 2010
Kenya's Wilson Kiprop denied Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea an
unprecedented fifth consecutive men's title at the IAAF World
Half-Marathon Championships in Nanning, China, winning in one hour and
seven seconds.
The 23-year-old joined his compatriot Florence Kiplagat on the top
step of the Nanning podium to complete the first national double
victory at these championships since 1999.
It was only the fourth time that the Kenya's runners ran to gold since
the inception of the championships in 1992. The other three were
Kenyan pairs as well; in 1999 it was luminaries Tegla Loroupe, who won
her third of three straight titles, and Paul Tergat, who collected his
second of two victories.
Kiprop's victory in 1:00:07 was the first for Kenya at these
championships since 2004, and more significantly put an end to
Tadese's reign at this event after four consecutive wins.
"It's very great to win, to beat a four-time world champion," said the
23-year-old Kiprop, whose breakout 2010 season also included the
African 10,000m title at home in Nairobi. "It's very, great."
The knockout blow didn't come until the final 100 metres when Kiprop,
running upright and looking forward, forged past Tadese, who appeared
sluggish in the waning stages after running at or near the front since
the outset.
When he was passed for good a few strides from the finish Tadese came
to a near-complete halt and hobbled across the finish in 1:00:11
reportedly injured.
Sammy Kitwara and Silas Kipruto finished third and fourth in 1:00:22
and 1:01:03 respectively, to secure Kenya's fifth straight men's team
title.
"The team was very strong," Kiprop said. "This is the first win for
Kenya in a very long time. And I'm very very happy for that."
Kiprop, who made his Marathon debut in Prague in May where he clocked
2:09:09, had run just one Half Marathon prior to Nanning, an
impressive 59:39 debut in Lille just one month ago. But he was the
picture of experience today as he, along with teammates Kitwara and
Kipruto, kept the pressure on Tadese from behind.
Unlike the women's race, the men's contest was a bit more packed for
the first half, with 15 men reaching the first five kilometres in
14:30.
With Tadese at the front, about a dozen were still in contention at
10k, reached in 28:49. The pace was considerably slower than in each
of Tadese's previous victories, but still well within reach of
sub-one-hour territory.
Some six minutes later, the field was reduced to seven, and six
minutes later a half dozen remained. By 15-k (42:49) only four were
left - Tadese, Kipruto, Kitwara and Kiprop, who, running virtually
side-by-side, had built a seven second cushion on Eritrean Samuel
Tsegay and 12 on Kenyan Titus Masai. Moses Mosop, the fastest in the
field this year, was 37 seconds behind the leaders at this point and
well out of contention.
In their final approach towards the finish in the city's large central
Wuxiang Square, it was Kiprop who was gaining confidence with every
stride, making his final surge with just over 100 metres to go.
"Before then, I was not yet confident because I knew it would be a
fight in the last two hundred metres, so I was just holding on,"
Kiprop said. "In the last 100 metres I saw that I was strong and I was
able to run away."
After Kitwara and Kipruto followed, Tsegay was next across the line,
finishing fifth in 1:01:03 a season's best, with Masai sixth in
1:01:24.
Kiplagat
Meanwhile, running in just her second Half Marathon, the 23-year-old
Kiplgat clocked 1:08:24 in hot and humid conditions to collect her
second global title, adding to her triumph at the 2009 World Cross
Country Championships.
"It was not easy with strong competition today," said Kiplagat, whose
debut over the distance came just over a month ago in Lille, France.
"The climate today was not easy, so I wasn't worried about the time,"
she added, noting in particular the 69 percent humidity at the start
which dropped just a bit to 65 percent at the finish.
Kiplagat's victory, the second straight individual title for Kenya,
propels Kenya to the team title, its fourth in the last five years and
eighth overall.
As expected, their chief rival was Ethiopia, the 2008 team champion,
who were forced to settle for a fourth silver medal finish in the past
five editions of these championships
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