RUNNING GERMANY: BERLIN – Elite race preview of the 37. Berlin Half Marathon 2017 on sunday

Kenyan runners have dominated the Berlin Half Marathon in the past. And little suggests  that  this  will  change  on  Sunday.  In  the past  15  years  there  were  only  two occasions when  the  men's  winner  was  not  a  Kenyan.

While  sub  one  hour  times  will  be  targeted once more on this very fast city centre course
the elite women will hope to break 70 minutes.

More  than  30,000  runners  entered  the  37th edition of the Berlin Half Marathon, which is Germany's  biggest  and  fastest  race  at  this distance

There are three athletes on the start lists who feature personal bests of sub one hour. All three are from  Kenya  and  they  are  the  favourites:  Gilbert  Masai, David Kogei and Daniel Chebii.

David  Kogei  almost  won  the  Berlin  Half Marathon already two years ago. In what was the closest  finish  in  the  history  of  the  race  he  was  just edged  out  by  Ethiopia's  Birhanu  Legese.  However there was some consolation for Kogei, since he clocked his personal best of 59:46 in that race.

Kogei's main  rivals  will  be  Gilbert  Masai  and  Daniel Chebii. Masai holds a slightly faster personal best at the distance. He clocked 59:31 when he finished fourth in last year's Copenhagen Half Marathon.

Daniel Chebii has already performed well in the Berlin Half Marathon on two occasions: In 2011 he was third with 60:56 and three years later he took fifth place in 60:40. His personal best stands at 59:49. Chebii also holds a world-class PB at 10 k with 27:35. It remains to be seen if Reuben Limaa can match the pace of his fellow-countrymen. The Kenyan has a personal best of 60:53, however he did not race much in the past few years.

Last year's runner-up Simon Tesfay of Eritrea, who clocked a personal record of 61:00 in Berlin, Ethiopia's Temesgen Daba (PB: 61:08) and Tsegay Tuemay of Eritrea (61:14) will most likely be the strongest challengers of the Kenyans.

The standard of Germany's elite road runners has improved significantly in recent years.

One of the athletes who came through is Philipp Pflieger. He intends to improve his personal best of 63:51 and could well achieve a top eight finish.

Homiyu Tesfaye was Germany's best bet for middle and long distance fame until 2015. However he had a poor Olympic year and it does not look bright after he left his coach Wolfgang Heinig in 2016. Tesfaye, who holds a personal best of 27:54 at 10 k from 2015, has run one half marathon back in 2012 in 67:17.

The winners of the past two editions of the Berlin Half Marathon will clash in the women's race.

Originally from Kenya the defending champion Elizeba Cherono competes for the Netherlands since January 2016. While her personal best stands at 70:10 she won last year's race in 70:43. A year earlier she missed out on victory by just four seconds, beaten Cynthia Kosgei. The Kenyan clocked her current PB of 70:52 in Berlin in 2015.

Now the pair will meet again on Sunday. Last year's runner-up Susan Jeptoo, a former Kenyan who now competes for France, will also return. She clocked 60:49 in Berlin in 2016.However another runner must probably be regarded as the favourite: Edith Chelimo has shown fine form in her half marathon races last year, winning three out of four. She improved to 69:45 in Njabini, Kenya, when taking this event in November.

Another one who targets a sub 70 minutes' time is Sara Hall.

The American has a PB of 70:07. The fastest runner on the women's start list is a German: Sabrina Mockenhaupt won the Berlin Half Marathon back in 2009 with 68:45. However due to various injuries in the past few years it is highly unlikely that the 36 year-old can challenge the Kenyans.

Mockenhaupt will look to compete with the fellow-Germans in the field. Among them are Anja Scherl (PB: 71:17) and Katharina Heinig (72:55), who both achieved breakthrough performances in 2016.

With a time of 2:27:50 Scherl improved by more than eight minutes in last year's Hamburg Marathon. Heinig, who is coached by her mother, the former world-class marathoner Katrin Dörre-Heinig, smashed her personal marathon best by more than five minutes in the BMW BERLIN-MARATHON with 2:28:34. 

Source: Halfmarathon Berlin