Unlike in the women’s race, the status quo did not change the men’s event at the 2018 IAAF/Trinidad Alfonso World Half Marathon Championships in Valencia, Spain on Saturday, March 24.
Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor romped away over the final six kilometres to secure his third consecutive world title in the half marathon.
After a sluggish early pace, Kamworor picked up but did not break the hour. However, he finished ahead of a very classy field in a time of 1:00:02.
Japan’s Kenta Murayama and Spain’s Ayad Lamdassem were the most prominent faces at the front of a huge pack after 5km but the pack reduced over the next 10km.
Kamworor started to feature more prominently at the head of the race after 15km as Ethiopia’s Jemal Yimer and Kenya’s Leonard Barsoton were also moving to the fore.
For the next two kilometres, the Kenyan slowly wound up the pace but later on accelerated and took him well clear of the field. He eventually crossed the finish two seconds after the hour mark to take home gold.
Abraham Cheroben took the silver medal in a personal season best 1:00:22 while Eritria’s Aaron Kifel passed Yimer with 500 metres to go to take the bronze in a personal best of 1:00:31.
How Ugandans Performed
Meanwhile, Fred Musobo was Uganda’s best performer as he crossed the finish line in a personal best time of 1:01:38 to finish 20th.
Felix Chemonges finished 26th also in a personal best of 1:02:10 while Moses Kurong came 35th in a time of 1:02:27.
Alex Mutai came 75th in a personal best time of 1:04:24.