Kenyan athletes were trounced by their Ethiopian counterparts at the Florence Marathon staged on Sunday, November 27, 2022.
Rodah Jepkorir Tanui clocked 2:26.21 to finish behind the race winner Tesema Bayisa Atsede of Ethiopia.
Bayisa, who won the Chicago Marathon title in 2010 ran away with the title in 2:25.12, more than a minute ahead of Tanui.
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Rwanda’s Clementine Mundakanga displayed a brave performance to complete the podium place finish in a personal best time of 2:28.00.
In the men’s category, Ethiopia’s Fikadu Kebede Debele outpaced a star-studded East African contingent to win the race in 2:08.45, missing the current course record set by Kenya’s James Kutto in 2006 by a whisker.
Pre-race favorite Samuel Lomoi of Kenya settled for a second place finish in a personal best time of 2:09.00.
Burundi’s Ibrahim Abdi Abdo showed David Rono of Kenya dust in the closing stages of the race to register a third-place finish.
Abdo crossed the finishing line in 2:10.58 ahead of Rono who ran out of gas when it mattered most.
A group of East African athletes including Lomoi, Abdo, Kebede and Rono were in the leading park at the 5km mark.
They kept switching positions until around the 25km mark when Kebede and Lowoi broke away and took command of the race.
The clemente weather witnessed in the Italian city is partly to be blamed for the slow times registered by the athletes.
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