The Eritrean runner threepeated on the men’s side in 59:34 but was over a minute short of his world record 58:23 despite going through 10k near record pace (27:44, 27:40 is the pace needed)
By IAAF,
Zesenay Tadese of Eritrea, got a big international win as he won the Lisbon Half Marathon today (25) in Portugal. He didn’t run under 59 minutes on Sunday (25) as in his previous appearances and crossed the finish line more than a minute off his World record (58:23) set in 2010, but still won handily in 59:34.
USA’s Shalane Flanagan won the women’s race in 1:08:52 at this IAAF Gold Label Road Race.
There were high expectations from Tadese’s appearance, because the weather wasn’t as bad as predicted but still quite warm. At the race time, the temperature reach 23 ºC with moderate winds.
From the start Tadese ran in the front, with John Mwangangi (2nd in 2011 Lisbon Half Marathon and Valencia Half Marathon 2010 and 2011 winner), but always well off World record pace.
After the race, the five time IAAF World Half Marathon champion said,
“I couldn’t run as fast as last year because I had a flu, and that affected me. I hope I can do better next year, if I can compete here, again.”
After Tadese and Mwangangi, another Kenyan, Lucas Rotich, finished the podium 1:40 ahead of Portuguese Rui Silva, who achieved a new personal best of 1:02:40. For Silva, “The most difficult thing was being alone almost from the beginning. Tadese and company soon went to the front, pacing the race to a level hard for my current shape. So I ran almost alone to finish with a personal best.”
The high temperature proved to be harder than expected and several athlets didn’t finish.
Among the first ten finishers, seven of them were born in Africa, two in Portugal (Silva and Manuel Damião, 2012 Portuguese road race and cross-country champion), and one Argentinean.
RESULTS – MEN:
1. Zersenay Tadese, ERI 59.34
2. John Mwangangi, KEN 1.00.44
3. Lucas Rotich, KEN 1.01.00
4. Rui Silva, POR 1.02.40
5. Gilbert Masai, KEN 1.02.40
6. Titus Masai, KEN 1.03.07
7. Dickson Marwa, TAN 1.03.09
8. Yared Asmeron, ERI 1.03.43
9. Manuel Damião, POR 1.03.56
10. Sammy Kigen, KEN 1.04.11
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