On Saturday, over 30 elite athletes from 10 European countries raced hard at the at the 16th Mattoni Half Marathon. It was a festival with 13,000 runners from over 60 countries.
The men’s race
From the gun, four favourites broke away from the rest of the field. They were Jan Lukas Becker and Jona Bodirsky from Germany, Jorge Blanco from Spain, and Mykola Mevsha from Ukraine. The quartet stayed together until the halfway point of the race. That’s when Blanco first separated himself from Becker and Mevsha. And at around the 12th kilometre, from Bodirsky as well. He described this moment as crucial on his path to victory, “We had great pace, I felt good, so I tried to push a bit more. I built a gap on the other runners and kept pushing to increase it.”
In Smetanovy sady, where the 15 km mark was located, he built a 14-second advantage over his Ukrainian pursuer. In the end, he dominated the race completely. He secured a valuable double after his victory at the Mattoni Half Marathon České Budějovice. Also, moving into the lead of the current EuroHeroes series standings.
“Czechia is becoming my favourite country to race in. It’s my second time here and my second victory, which I appreciate very much. At the same time, I really enjoyed the course profile, and the atmosphere was absolutely amazing,” Blanco added. Second place went to Mykola Mevsha. He lost by 26 seconds to the Spaniard. Meanwhile, the bronze medal position fell to Jona Bodirsky, who was 43 seconds slower than the race winner. His compatriot Becker, who was one of the fastest runners for a large part of the race, ultimately dropped to fifth place. He was overtaken in the final kilometres by Dutch veteran Khalid Choukoud.
The women’s race
In the women’s race, Czech Olympian Tereza Hrochová and Spain’s Carolina Robles latched onto a group of men right at the start. They, pulled significantly ahead of their competitors. The two gradually increased their lead over third-placed Hungarian Nóra Szabó and threatened the 2018 European record from the start. The record is held by Spain’s Trihas Gebre with a time of 1:09:51. The runners split between the ninth and 10 kilometres, when the Iberian native broke away, and the Czech couldn’t match her surge.
The 34-year-old Robles continued to accelerate in the second half, making it clear she was running toward her second EuroHeroes series triumph of the year. Earlier, she won the Mattoni Half Marathon Karlovy Vary four weeks ago. Her final time of 1:09:30 meant she beat the previous European record by 21 seconds. “I felt great support from the spectators along the course, who chanted my name and drove me forward. The race itself was very demanding; I had a bit of an issue with the later start time, but I am very satisfied with the final time,” said Carolina Robles.
Finishing second, Tereza Hrochová was just one second short of her personal best from Mattoni Half Marathon České Budějovice just two weeks ago. She clocked a 1:10:53. She broke the Czech race record, which had been held by Eva Vrabcová Nývltová since 2018. “The race wasn’t easy for me at all. I’ve had quite a lot of miles in my legs recently, but I didn’t experience any real crisis. When Robles accelerated at the ninth km, I gestured to the guy I’d agreed with before the race to run together. Suggesting we go with her. But after about 300 metres, I said no, this wouldn’t be comfortable anymore, so we slowed down. From then on, I had to run on my own. And after that, I didn’t have anyone with me to keep up a faster pace,” Hrochová evaluated. Third place went to Norwegian runner Hanne Mjøen Maridal, who lost by just under 3 minutes to the Spanish representative.
Results
Official results Mattoni Half Marathon Olomouc
Men – Elite
Jorge Blanco (ESP): 1:03:08
Mykola Mevsha (UKR): 1:03:33
Jona Bodirsky (GER): 1:03:51
Khalid Choukoud (NED): 1:04:30
Jan Lukas Becker (GER): 1:04:55
Women – Elite
Carolina Robles (ESP): 1:09:30
Tereza Hrochová (CZE): 1:10:53
Hanne Mjøen Maridal (NOR): 1:12:26
Nataliia Strebkova (UKR): 1:12:43
Michaela Čepová (CZE): 1:14:28
