Kenyans dominated the 2022 Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon as Irene Cheptai and Eric Kipkoech registered podium-place finishes on Sunday morning, October 16.
Cheptai won the women’s race in a personal best time of 1:06.42 ahead of Ethiopia’s Dawit Seyaum and Uganda’s Stella Chesang.
The 30-year-old who registered a fourth-place finish in the 2020 edition had to wait until the final stages of the race before taking command.
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At the earlier phases, Chesang was in control, cruising past the 10km mark in an impressive time of 00:31.42, with Cheptai an Dawit following closely behind.
Cheptai did not stay behind for long, at the 15km mark she flew past the Ugandan and never looked back.
Chesang was able to hold on from a spirited fight from Seyaum to cross the finishing line in 1:08.02. The latter settled for a third-place finish in 1:08.11.
In the men’s category, even with the absence of pre-race favorite and the reigning half marathon world record holder Jacob Kiplimo, the Indian fans were treated to a thrilling battle between the East African trio of Felix Kipkoech, Chala Regasa and Boki Diriba.
With less than 2km remaining to the end of the race, Regasa, Diriba and Felix squared it out in a neck to neck battle.
Regasa outpaced his opponents when it mattered most to run away with the title.
He reached the tape in 1:00.30, three seconds ahead of Kipkoech who clocked 1:00.33 while Diriba settled for a third-place finish in 1:00.34.
Another Kenyan in the race, Joshua Belet registered a fourth-place finish in 1:00.43 with compatriots Moses Koech and Michael Kamau registering a 6th and 7th place finishes respectively.
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