NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 18 – Evans Chebet won his first ever major marathon title, clinching victory in a time of 2hrs, 6mins and 51secs, with Lawrence Cherono coming in second and defending champion Benson Kipruto coming in third.
Chebet who failed to finish in the 2018 race after dropping out at the 29km mark ensured he went all the way this time, pushing away from the leading pack after 30km and maintaining the lead till the end.
“I am very delighted to come here and win especially after failing to finish in 2018. It was really tough,” an excited Chebet said after the race.
He added; “My coach had told me that of the pace goes down, I try push it a bit. I knew the others were good and everyone wanted this. I was cautious of them and didn’t want to be close by. When I got to the 35km mark, I felt that I was comfortable and strong and the gap between us was good and I reduced the speed a bit.”
Ethiopia’s London Marathon champion Sisay Lemma moved ahead at around the 6km mark, which caused the pack to break up slightly. Kenya’s Bethwel Yegon joined him and then pushed on at 10km, passed in 29:38, with the lead group still 19 strong.
That pack remained as Yegon, Albertson and his US compatriot Mick Iacofano led through 15km in 44:43 and Albertson was a stride ahead as the half-way point was reached in 1:03:24.
Unlike the women’s race, the large lead group remained through 25km (1:15:25) and 30km (1:30:59), with 15 runners still together at that point.
It was at 35km when the race really came alive. Chebet, who had been sitting comfortable mid group, decided to shake things up and his surge in pace caused athletes to run in single file behind him.
Geay was on his shoulder at the 35km checkpoint (1:46:31), with Cherono and Kipruto joined by Ethiopia’s Kinde Atanaw and Jemal Yimer in a chase group (1:46:33) and Kenya’s three-time world half marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor running solo in seventh.
But no one could live with Chebet’s 13:55 split to 40km (2:00:26) and although chasing hard, Cherono and Kipruto were 18 seconds back at that point. Pushing on, Chebet had increased that lead to 30 seconds by the finish.
Kamworor meanwhile finished a disappointing 18th after struggling in the sunset kilometres of the race.
