Asrar Abderehman and Alemu Megertu, both Ethiopians, won the Zurich Maratón de Sevilla on Sunday. The two clocked new course records and personal bests going 2:04:43 and 2:18:51 respectively.
Six of the top-10 men and the first four and six of the top-10 women are Ethiopian.
The fields were accurately paced through 20-miles (32kms), where the usual breaks happen.
WOAH! @JessCoulson90 dropped a 2:22:27 marathon in Seville yesterday, moving her to 2nd on the UK all-time list – only behind the great Paula Radcliffe 🤯
— TCS London Marathon (@LondonMarathon) February 21, 2022
Congratulations, Jess ❤️#LondonMarathon #TeamLME https://t.co/Ppdh32RQs7
From World Athletics’ report, “Perfectly paced by Hassan Aouchar, the women’s contest opened at a brisk pace with opening splits of 16:13 (5km) and 32:44 (10km), suggesting a finishing time well inside 2:20, which would smash the course record of 2:23:13. By then the leading quintet was formed by Ethiopians Megertu, the fastest entrant thanks to a 2:21:10 PB, Meseret Gola, runner-up at last November’s Barcelona Marathon in a PB of 2:24:09, Kalayu Chekole, Chimdesa Kumsa, and Alema Gebremedhin. Behind them, Britain’s Jess Piasecki, eager to improve on her marathon best after smashing her half marathon PB with 1:07:20 last month, passed through 10km in 33:24.”
Seven of the top-10 women and nine of the top-10 men were east African.
Of note, British runner Jess Piasecki ran a big new personal best to finish in the time of 2:22:27. Her previous best was from Firenze, Italy in 2019, where she clocked a 2:25:29 performance. In Spain last month Piasecki demonstrated her new level of fitness by running a PB in the half-marathon event finishing in the time of 67:20. In October 2021, she ran a strong pair of road races running 31:20 over 10K in Leeds, UK, and a 51:50 in Portsmouth, UK. The marathon is yet another step forward in performance level for the 31-year-old.
Piasecki’s improvement is impressive, however, 26-year-old Mexican athlete Citlali Moscote leaped forward demonstrably with a massive debut marathon clocking a 2:26:13. Nothing that she has run in the past has indicated this level of performance. Her current personal best in the half-marathon is 73:08, while her 10,000m (35:50.79) and 5000m performances are even less impressive (16:36.71). It appears that Mexico has a world-class marathon runner again.
Men
1 Asrar Abderehman (ETH) 2:04:43
2 Adeladlew Mamo (ETH) 2:05:12
3 Ghirmay Ghebrelassie (ERI) 2:05:34
4 Adugna Takele (ETH) 2:05:52
5 Awet Habte (ERI) 2:06:25
6 Ayad Lamdassem (ESP) 2:06:25
7 Maru Teferi (ISR) 2:06:58
8 Abdi Gelchu (ETH) 2:07:15
9 Amare Girmaw (ETH) 2:07:35
10 Haimro Alema (ETH) 2:08:15
Women
1 Alemu Megertu (ETH) 2:18:51
2 Meseret Gola (ETH) 2:20:50
3 Kalayu Chekole (ETH) 2:21:17
4 Chindesa Kumsa (ETH) 2:22:13
5 Jess Piasecki (GBR) 2:22:27
6 Alema Gebremedhin (ETH) 2:22:28
7 Adawork Aberta (ETH) 2:23:39
8 Majida Maayouf (MOR) 2:24:09
9 Gladys Puchuaranga (PER) 2:25:57
10 Citlali Moscote (MEX) 2:26:13
Full report available here>>