Beating Sifan Hassan’s race record is something special – Ethiopian Gemechu

Ethiopian Gemechu pleased to break Hassan’s mark

JOHANNESBURG, September 20 (ANA) – Ethiopian Tsehay Gemechu was proud to have broken the course record, previously held by distance running legend Sifan Hassan of The Netherlands, at the Copenhagen Half Marathon – a World Athletics Elite Label Road Race – on Sunday .

Gemechu crossed the line in 65:08, beating her own Personal Best (PB) by 52 seconds, and beating the previous record set by the Ethiopian-born Hassan by seven seconds.

“I was hoping to break my personal best and run close to 65 minutes, and beating Sifan Hassan’s race record of course is something special,” said Gemechu.

“I am very happy. It was a bit windy, so I had to work hard.”

Running behind her pacemaker Roy Hoornweg, who also paced Yalemzerf Yehualaw to her world half marathon record in Larne last month, Gemechu had her sights on the 1:05:15 race record set by the now double Olympic champion Hassan three years ago, but the big pre-event favourite wasn’t alone in the opening stages.

Her fellow Ethiopians Hawi Feysa, Gete Alemayehu and Beyenu Degefa, plus Kenya’s Vivian Kiplagat, joined her in a lead group which went through 5km in 15:16 but by 10km (30:48) the pack was starting to stretch, with Alemayehu having been dropped and Gemechu still to the fore and looking comfortable.

A couple of kilometres later Gemechu, who finished fourth in the 2019 world 5000m final in Doha, had broken away and was running clear ahead of her compatriot Feysa, the 2017 Under-20 world cross country silver medallist. By 15km Gemechu, now running without her pacemaker, had a 13-second lead ahead of Feysa, with Kiplagat another 22 seconds back. That is how the positions remained to the finish line, but with Gemechu’s advantage having grown to half a minute.

Feysa, who has a 2:23:36 marathon PB from Dubai last year but was making her half marathon debut, finished second in 1:05:41, with Kiplagat clocking 1:06:07 to take 31 seconds off her PB in third. Degefa was fourth (1:08:15) and Ethiopia’s Yitayish Mekonene fifth (1:08:53). – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Michael Sherman