Obiri runs tenth fastest women’s half marathon

NKolay İstanbul Half Marathon
Sun 27 March 2022

Photo: Spor Istanbul
©

Hellen Obiri clocked the tenth fastest time ever with 1:04:48 to win the 17th N Kolay Istanbul Half Marathon while Rodgers Kwemoi ran a course record of 59:15 to make it a Kenyan double.

Strong winds during the second half of the race prevented even faster times on a sunny day at the Bosphorus.

Dominating the race 24 year-old Rodgers Kwemoi improved the course record by 20 seconds. Daniel Mateiko was second in 60:05 while fellow-Kenyan Emmanuel Bor, who had started the race as a pacemaker, finished third with 60:20. Romania’s Nicolae Soare was the fastest European runner in 12th position with 63:33 and Ramazan Özdemir followed in 14th with 64:02 as the fastest athlete from Turkey.

Hellen Obiri ran another impressive race. When the 32 year-old World Cross Country and 5,000 m World Champion broke the tape in 64:48 she was more than a minute ahead. Ethiopians Tsehay Gemechu and Bekelech Gudeta took second and third with 65:52 and 66:35. While Kenya’s Vicoty Chepngeno finished fourth in 66:58 Yasemin Can of Turkey was fifth with 67:57.

Full race report…