Ruth Chepngetich set for Istanbul return

Ruth Chepngetich will head extraordinary strong elite field in the N Kolay Istanbul Half Marathon set for 30 April.

The 2019 marathon world champion has established a unique winning streak at the Bosphorus, which she will try to build on further, after taking the title three times and triumphed in the N Kolay Marathon twice.

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In total she competed five times in these races and broke the course record on all occasions. When Chepngetich established the current half marathon mark of 64:02 in 2021 this was a world record as well.

Currently nine men are on the start list who have already broken the hour mark and nine women feature personal bests of sub 67 minutes. This will remain one of the strongest line-ups in half marathon racing worldwide this year.

Chepngetich has shown superb marathon form earlier this month, when she took the Nagoya women’s race with a world-class 2:18:08. Seven weeks later the 28-year-old hopes to be ready for another super-fast performance in Istanbul.  

“I am super excited to come to the race for the fourth time and to defend my title. I have always performed well in Istanbul and I am hoping to run another fast race if the weather allows,” Chepngetich, whose course record of 64:02 still is the Kenyan record while the world record now stands at 62:52 says. 

A group of Ethiopians could challenge Kenya’s running star. Just 21 years old Bosena Mulatie already has a strong personal best of 65:46. She ran this time in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) last year, where she finished fifth.

In the summer she achieved qualification for the World Championships and placed eighth in the 10,000 m final.  Ethiopians Ftaw Zeray and Bekelech Gudeta feature personal records of 66:04 and 66:35 respectively. Gudeta ran her PB last year in Istanbul when she was third. Gete Alemayehu has been in fine form earlier this year, when she finished 12th in the challenging World Cross Country Championships. The Ethiopian has a half marathon PB of 66:37.

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Besides Chepngetich there are a couple of more strong women from Kenya on the current start list. Evaline Chirchir is one of them. She ran 66:01 RAK in 2020 when she was fourth. The 24-year-old did not compete for some time internationally, but ran a solid race in RAK last month with 67:15 for fifth place.