Portuguese Ornelas is first European man to win Prague Marathon

With temperatures forecast to reach 24 degrees and strong winds predicted throughout the day it is not surprising that so many athletes failed to finish the 13th Prague Marathon, which took place yesterday May 13.

Eventual winner Helder Ornelas (POR), did not take the lead until the final 2km where he over took Luka Chelimo (KEN) to produce the first ever European Win of the Men’s Marathon in Prague.

Linz Winner, Oleksandr Kuzin (UKR) took the lead early on and set the pace right up until the half way mark (1:05.10) however clever running of Ornelas enabled him to find some reserve and kick home in the final 2km, to take Gold in 2:11.49 and collect the winner’s cheque of 16,000 euro.

This was only the 33-year-old’s third ever Marathon. He made the transition from track to the road in 2005 when he won his debut in Milan in 2:09.59. Since then he has only competed in the European Athletics Championships in Goteborg where he finished 15th in a time of 2:16.03.

Speaking after his win, Ornelas said: „It was very hot out there, so the race was extremely hard. I started slower to save my energy and at the end felt much better than the others.“

A great day for Portugal was completed when Paulo Gomes came home third winning the bronze in a time of 2:12.51, and a new Personal Best shaving more than three minutes off his previous record.

The heat again played a part in the Women’s Race when title defender Alina Ivanova (RUS) was forced to withdraw after just one hour. Her team mate Nailya Yulamanova (RUS) ensured the title stayed in Russia however when she ran the day’s fastest female time of 2:33.10 and collected her prize money of 7,000 euro along with the Gold medal.

Second place went to Malgorzata Sobanska (POL) who finished in 2:35.02 but the biggest improvement of the day went to Veronika Brychcinova (CZE) who took the Bronze.

Brychcinova a former Lacrosse Player only entered the race on Saturday and had never before recorded a sub 3 hour time. She came home in 2:40.50 fulfilling the IAAF qualifying standard for the World Championships in Osaka, although her National Federation has set stricter standards of 2:35 and therefore she still a little way to go before she can be selected.

The soaring temperatures had prompted race organiser Paolo Ottone to consider moving the date two or three weeks earlier in the hope of more favourable running conditions, although in the end he was satisfied with the results.

Top European results:
Men:
1. Ornelas,POR 2:11:49,
3. Gomes,POR 2:12:51, 4
7. Faschingbauer (NC) 2:18:55,

Women:
1. Yulamanova,RUS 2:33:10,
2. Sobanska 2:35:02,
3. Brychcinova (NC) 2:40:50, no other sub 3 hours

Source:
European Athletics (EAA)
https://www.european-athletics.org/
EAA