NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 16 – Women’s only world half marathon record holder Peres Jepchirchir says there is a possibility that the record might fall at Saturday’s World Half Marathon Championship set to be staged in the Polish city of Gdynia.
Jepchirchir who clocked 1:05:34 in a women-only race at the Prague 21.1K last month believes the quality of the field which also includes former world record holder Joyciline Jepkosgei will be ingredient enough for a fast-paced race.
“There is good expectation for a good time tomorrow because we have strong athletes in the field. Maybe the world record can go. The field is strong,” Jepchirchir said during the pre-race press conference on Friday afternoon.
Apart from the two Kenyans, the race will for the first time in history have two current world record-holders for the distance with Ethiopia’s Ababel Yeshaneh also lining up against peres.
Yeshaneh clocked 1:04:31 at the Ras Al-Khaimah Half Marathon in February to set the record in a mixed race. This will be the second time the two duel in a race with the Ethiopian coming top in their first meeting at the Delhi Half Marathon in 2016.
Apart from Yeshaneh, defending champion Netsanet Kebede will also be present to defend her crown. She won in Valencia two years ago in a women-only world record of 1:06:11, but hasn’t won a half marathon since then.
Despite the presence of stiff Ethiopian contingent, Jepchirchir is confident that Kenya will carry the honors from the race.
“We have a very good team. We are going to run as a team. I know Ethiopians have prepared well, but we have also prepared well and I know Kenya will win gold,” she stated.
Jepkosgei is the fastest woman in history over 5km, 10km, 15km and 20km but hasn’t quite yet returned to her record-breaking form from 2017,.
The 26-year-old Kenyan impressed at last year’s New York City Marathon to win on her debut at the distance in 2:22:38, just a few seconds shy of the long-standing course record.
Jepchirchir and Jepkosgei are joined on the Kenyan team by Rosemary Wanjiru, Dorcas Kimeli and Brillian Kipkoech.
Wanjiru has emerged this year as a much stronger athlete and has clocked 29:50 over 10km in Valencia back in January, going to third on the world all-time list for the distance, and followed it with a 1:05:34 run in Ras Al Khaimah, the fastest half marathon debut in history.
She hasn’t raced on the roads since then, but in July she clocked a 5000m PB of 15:03.49 and a 10,000m season’s best of 30:38.18.
Kimeli, like Jepkosgei and Wanjiru, is one of five women to have bettered 30 minutes for 10km on the roads. She is less experienced than most of her team-mates, but has finished on the podium in all five of her half marathons to date and has a 1:07:10 PB, set in Barcelona earlier this year.
–Additional information courtesy World Athletics