L. MathekaKimeli breaks Kamworor's record in Bengaluru
Reading Time: 2min | Mon. 16.05.22. | 18:34
It was a clean sweep for Kenya in the women's race.
Nicholas Kimeli, fourth at the Olympic 5000m final last year beat Ethiopia’s world Under-20 10,000m champion Tadese Worku and former world half marathon record holder Kibiwott Kandie to the Bengaluru 10km title.
Kimeli, clocked 27:38 to reduce the men’s course record by six seconds from the previous mark set by his compatriot Geoffrey Kamworor in 2014.
Worku who also finished inside the old record with 27:43 beat pre-race favourite, Kandie who completed the podium places in 27:57.
“Honestly, I was not expecting to get the course record,” Kimeli. “When we reached 5 km, we did not think it was possible. Even at 7 km it still looked far fetched until Worku pushed ahead and I picked up pace towards the end," said Kimeli.
The race started off in an unusual manner with Kenya’s Reynold Kipkorir, who was to eventually finish ninth, out on his own for much of the first 5km, passing the halfway point in 14:00 with the rest of the elite field staying about 70 metres in arrears.
However, shortly after going through 5km, Worku changed gear and started to rapidly tow the leading men back to Kipkorir before going past him just before the 6km point and then increasing the pace further.
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Kimeli continued running just behind Worku for the next three kilometres, letting his Ethiopian rival do all the hard work as the pair gradually got back on to course record pace as they also put daylight between themselves and the rest of the men’s field.
Worku still looked fresh as they reached the final kilometre but could not respond when Kimeli took the lead, with the latter almost sprinting like a middle-distance runner over the final 300m as the finish line approached in Bengaluru’s Sree Kanteerava Stadium.
By contrast, Ethiopia’s two-time world 5000m champion Muktar Edris was never in contention for the podium and finished back in seventh.
Additional reporting by World Athletics
