RUNNING GERMANY: BERLIN – Komon produces fastest debut half marathon in Berlin

In his debut at the distance, Leonard Komon won the 34th Berlin Half Marathon with the world class time of 59:14, just edging out fellow Kenyan Abraham Cheroben in a sprint finish on Sunday (30).

Komon, 26, missed the world record of 58:23 he had announced he wanted to attack but he still had plenty to celebrate. His time was the best ever by a debutant at the distance, improving the previous best of 59:20, which Kenya’s Moses Mosop ran in Milan four years ago, by six seconds.

Running with a tailwind during the first 10km, a very fast race quickly developed. After passing the 5 km mark in 13:39, a group of four runners – Kenyan pacemaker Vincent Rono leading his compatriots Komon, Cheroben and Daniel Chebii – reached the 10km point in 27:40.

With this split time, the group was on time for a world record but Rono’s pacing duties soon ended and when the group of three turned into Kurfuerstendamm after 11km they ran into a head wind for most of the remaining kilometres.

Chebii could no longer stay with his rivals shortly after 12km but Cheroben showed great courage and the training partner of Komon, with a personal best of 1:00:38 before the race, decided to take the lead.

“I have to thank him for this, because it really helped me,” reflected Komon, after the race.

However, the pace still dropped and the world record was obviously out of reach once the two leaders passed the 15km point in 41:44.

In the final few kilometres it was now not about chasing records but winning.

In a sprint finish Komon, who is the world record holder at 10km and 15km on the roads, just edged out Cheroben although both men were given the same time of 59:14. The course record remains at 58:56, set by Patrick Makau, another Kenya, in 2007.

"I am happy with my performance in my debut race. Of course, I ran longer distances in training, but there is always a difference between training and competition. I thought I would be able to run under 59 minutes. It was a challenge, but at the end there was something missing. But I know what to do and will try to run such a time in my next half marathon," added Komon, who said he also intends to move up to the marathon in the not-to-distant future.

Komon finished ahead of 11 fellow Kenyans. Behind Cheroben, Richard Mengich edged out Sylas Kimutai for third place with both clocking 1:00:17. Chebii followed the leading quartet home in fifth place with 1:00:40.

Ethiopia’s Tadelech Bekele won the women’s race in 1:10:05, pulling away from Kenya’s Agnes Mutune with barely two kilometres to go.

Bekele and Mutune led from the beginning but the pace was not as fast as expected, although she finished eight seconds ahead of Mutune, who was second in 1:10:13.

"I am happy with this win and it is my plan to prepare for a marathon," said Bekele. Running in third position for most of the race, Germany’s Sabrina Mockenhaupt filled the final place on the podium when she came home in 1:11:43.

31.562 runners from 102 nations took part – that's Germanys biggest halfmarathon.

 

Organisers

 

Men

1	Komon, Leonard	KEN	00:59:14
2	Cheroben, Abraham	KEN	00:59:15
3	Mengich, Richard	KEN	01:00:17
4	Kimutai, Sylas	KEN	01:00:18
5	Chebii, Daniel	KEN	01:00:40
6	Kipkoech, John	KEN	01:01:39
7	Matelong, Peter	KEN	01:01:57
8	Rotich, Lucas	KEN	01:01:58
9	Kiplagat, Hosea	KEN	01:02:09
10	Kiplagat, Eliud	KEN	01:02:11
11	Ereng, Patrick	KEN	01:02:41
12	Kibet, Luke	KEN	01:02:45
13	Pollmächer, Andre	GER	01:02:47
14	Maina, Charles	KEN	01:02:53
15	Masai, Moses	KEN	01:03:27
16	Tesfai, Simon	ERI	01:04:21
17	Merrien, Lee	GBR	01:06:28
18	Mellina, Pol	LUX	01:06:57
19	Cruz Mateos, Imanol	ESP	01:06:58
20	Schulze, Marc	GER	01:07:04

 Women

1	Bekele, Tadelech	ETH	01:10:05
2	Mutune, Agnes	KEN	01:10:13
3	Mockenhaupt, Sabrina	GER	01:11:43
4	Neuenschwander, Maja	SUI	01:12:43
5	Kibor, Alice	KEN	01:13:15
6	MaCarthy, Claire	IRL	01:16:25
7	Urach, Sandra	AUT	01:17:52
8	Mustonen, Kukka-Maaria	FIN	01:19:43
9	Brandt, Victoria	GER	01:20:25
10	Schindler, Cornelia	GER	01:21:00
11	Lupke, Anne	GER	01:21:04
12	Gerson, Leigh	USA	01:21:19
13	Giebl, Sarah	GER	01:21:37
14	Robe, Karoline	GER	01:23:02
15	Juuti, Sari	FIN	01:23:29
16	Pedersen, Marte	NOR	01:23:55
17	Winberg, Linnéa	SWE	01:23:56
18	Berthold, Anne	GER	01:23:58
19	Bergsløkken, Ida	NOR	01:24:13
20	Hennessy, Mary	USA	01:24:36

 

 

Stats: Komon Sets Half-Marathon Debut Record – by from K. Ken Nakamura

 

Fastest Debut Half marathon – Men

Performances	Time	Name	Nat	Place	Venue	Date	Note
1	59:14	Leonard Patrick Komon	KEN	1	Berlin	30 Mar 2014
2	59:20	Moses Mosop	KEN	1	Milano	21 Mar 2010
3	59:27	Eliud Kipchoge	KEN	3	Lille	1 Sept 2012
4	59:34	Bernard Kipyego	KEN	1	Berlin	5 Apr 2009
5	59:36	Tilahun Regassa	ETH	1	Lille	6 Sept 2008
6	59:37	Dejene Berhanu	ETH	1	Newcastle-South Shields	26 Sept 2004	30.5mDH
7	59:39	Silas Kipruto	KEN	2	Milano	21 Mar 2010
8	59:43	Samuel Wanjiru	KEN	1	Sendai	10 July 2005
9	59:43	Ryan Hall	USA	1	Houston (USATF)	14 Jan 2007
10	59:44	Lucas Rotich	KEN	5	Den Haag	13 Mar 2011
11	59:48	Martin Mathathi	KEN	1	Sendai	9 May 2010

 

Note:

Patrick Makau ran 1:03:37 in Bristol on Sept 17, 2006 before running 59:13 in RAK on Feb 9, 2007

Geoffrey Mutai has run 59:30 in his first half marathon in 2009 (Valencia on Nov 22), but in 2007 he made his marathon debut on the short course in Eldoret

Patrick Ivuti DNF at Milano in April of 1999 before his Lisboa half with 59:31 (first completed half)

 

Fastest Debut Half marathon – Women

Performances	Time	Name	Nat	Place	Venue	Date	Note
1	1:06:57	Kara Goucher	USA	1	Newcastle to South Shields	30 Sept 2007	30.5mDH
2	1:07:07	Elvan Abeylegesse	TUR	1	Ras Al Khaimah	19 Feb 2010
3	1:07:26	Kayoko Fukushi	JPN	1	Marugame	5 Feb 2006
4	1:07:35	Tirunesh Dibaba	ETH	1	Newcastle to South Shields	16 Sept 2012
5	1:07:40	Florence Kiplagat	KEN	1	Lille	4 Sept 2010
6	1:07:45	Meseret Defar	ETH	1	Philadelphia	19 Sept 2010
7	1:07:56	Susie Power	AUS	1	Newcastle to South Shields	6 Oct 2002