At 17:05 P.M. Spanish time on Saturday, March 18 (00:05 Chinese time on the 19th), the Half Marathon World Championships were fired in Valencia.
The women's athletes took the lead. Ethiopia's Netsanet Gudeta hit the nail on the head: not only did he beat the most promising pre-match world record holder, Kenyan Joyciline Jepkosgei, but he also broke the world record!
Except that she set a world record of 1:06:11 in all-women's competitions — 14 seconds faster than the previous record held by Kenyan Dutchman Lornah Kiplagat for 11 years, rather than the mixed-gender record of 1:04:51 set by the latter under the full lead of the male rabbit.
Goodta's performance is also a significant improvement of 1 minute and 15 seconds from the PB she ran in New Delhi last November.
With the help of a strong tailwind, the first 3 kilometers of the women's first group took only 9 minutes and 20 seconds. They numbered as many as 13 people, including 3 Kenyan players, 5 Ethiopian team members and several Naturalized Kenyans from Bahrain.
The Kenyan troika leads the way, and everyone else is happy to ride a "hitchhiker".
Between seven or eight kilometers, the wind turned headwinds and two Kenyans began to resort to their usual acceleration tactics in the race, with only two Ethiopian and Bahraini Asian record holders, Eunice Chumba, able to keep up.
The time for 10 km is 31:38. At this time, although an Ethiopian teammate began to fall behind, Gudeta began to spike from time to time, showing that she still had a lot of stamina.
After 13 kilometers, she began to switch to high-speed gear, testing the skills of several opponents.
Pauline Kamulu, a lesser-known Kenyan, followed for a while, but soon fell.
Gudta had easily passed 15 km at 47:30, pulling Kamlu down four seconds and Jepkosgay four seconds behind.
The Ethiopians took 20 km to 1:02:53 and have extended their advantage to as many as 40 seconds. In the last 150 meters, she sprinted with all her might, winning, breaking records and winning the $50,000 grand prize, plus the $30,000 championship prize, which could also divide the Ethiopian team championship prize of $15,000.
She said after the game: "The game went according to plan. All I was thinking about was gold medals. She also repaid the "two-arrow revenge": the first two half-time World Championships in Malaysia ranked sixth and fourth respectively, and was the top non-Kenyan player.
Jepkosgai reinvigorated in the final 3km, overtaking Kamlu at 20km to finish second in 1:06:54, with the latter finishing third and breaking PB by two seconds.
Japan's best performers were Kaori Morita, 1:10:46, 17th, and Asao Ichiyama 1:11:02, 19th. Neither of the other two made 1:12.
Zhang Deshun, a youngster from Yunnan, ran a 1:11:28 China best in recent years and broke the PB, ranking 22nd.
America's Jordan Hasay and Sara Hall failed to compete, with Emma Bates at the top spot, 1:11:45.
The men's race, which started at 17:30, was slow and tedious for the first 15 km in strong winds: the first group of up to 29 people passed 15 km at 44:13 and the expected finish time was only 62:11.
After 15K, Kenyan Geoffrey Kamworor, who won the previous two championships (also the cross-country world championship and the 2017 New Horse champion), got up to the point of being called "one of the most amazing endings of all time" by the US website letsrun:
3 km from 15 to 18K takes 7 minutes and 48 seconds, and 15 to 20K takes 13 minutes 01 seconds, which is faster than many 5000 meters champions!
In the end, he won 1:00:02, which was the slowest he ran.
Bahraini Kenyan Abraham Cheroben, the third fastest (58:40) in history, finished second with a 20-second difference;
Eritrea's Aron Kifle III, 60:31.
Ethiopian top pick Jemal Yimer lost the medal 1:00:33.
Kenyan-American Samuel Chelanga 1:01:23 14th, veteran Bernard Lagat 1:02:16th; Diego Estrada 1:03:59th 69th, Statistics Lecturer Jared Ward 1:04:49th 83rd.
Japan's average record: Daisuke 1:01:56, 24th; Kenta Murayama 1:03:07, 46th; Hayabusa Marita 1:04:12 71st; Daisuke Ueto 1:04:48 82nd; Shota Murayama Run Worst: 1:06:49, 108th.
But his results are still higher than China's highest-ranked Xie Chao (Xie Chao?). - 1:07:24 strong. Liu Jinrun, another Chinese player, only ran 1:13:44, 139th, but like Xie Chao, he refreshed the PB.