By Rahul Banerji
Ethiopian runners dominated the 2020 running of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on Sunday, walking away with gold medals in both the men’s and women’s categories.
Amedework Walelegn outsprinted Andamlak Belihu at the line to deny his countryman’s bid for a title hat-trick in the restricted elite field, in a course record time while the women went one better.
Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehulalaw, runner-up last year, not only smashed the event record on her way to victory but also brought in the second-fastest time ever recorded in half marathons worldwide among women runners.
As of now, timings are still provisional but Yalemzerf will enter the record books once they are formalised and ratified by the world athletics body.
The Airtel Delhi Half Marathon was the first major international sporting event held in India since the pandemic and subsequent lockdown in March.
The lucrative and high-profile Indian Premier League was shifted out this year to the United Arab Emirates in view of the corona-virus threat and associated restriections.
Cool runnings
On a cool morning, the field set off, overcoming fears from the Covid-19 outbreak and poor air quality, and it was quickly became evident that the pace would be hot.
“My training since the world championships told me that maybe I could break the course record as I ran 65:19 there, but this was more than I expected,” said Yehualaw.
“I hoped for a win here after just losing by a second a year ago.”
“My plan was to push hard with two kilometres to go and that helped my time, and it was also very nice weather,” she added, with the early morning temperature around 12 degrees Celsius.
In the men’s race, three pacemakers took field through 3km in 8:22 and then 5km in 13:57 – well under 59-minute pace – with Belihu in the van.
Walelegn finished in 58:53, the third fastest time of the year and an event record by 13 seconds as well as a personal best by 15 seconds. Belihu was just one second in arrears.
Uganda’s Uganda’s Stephen Kissa was third among the elite runners in 58:56.
“I had a few bad patches but in the final kilometre I felt strong. I was second in Delhi in 2018 and this is a much faster course which has less sharp turns,” commented Walelegn afterwards.
Record run
The 21-year-old Walelegn bettered the course record of 59:06, set by yet another Ethiopian, Guye Adola, in 2014.
Belihu, winner in 2018 and 2019, settled for the silver medal in a time of 58 minutes, 54 seconds over the 21.09 km half marathon distance.
The two winners walked away with $27,000 cheques, with second place finishers earning $20,000.
In addition, Walelegn and Yehulalaw earned an additional $10,000 for breaking the course record in their race categories, according to the prize money rules of the Delhi Half Marathon.
In all, 5,020 runners participated in the various categories of the ADHM 2020.
Top Indians
India’s Avinash Sable, who has qualified for the Tokyo Olympics in the 3000m steeplechase, emerged winner among Indian elite runners, clocking 1:00.30 and in tenth place overall.
Parul Chaudhary topped the list of domestic runners, coming home in an hour, 12 minutes and 18 seconds. Both she and Sable set national records in the process.
With Delhi alone recording in excess of half a million cases, there was worry that the threat of Covid infections and unhealthy air would cause problems.
Tight pre-race protocols that included four tests and training in isolation, however, ensured an incident-free event.
A steady overnight breeze also helped, clearing away some of the smog that traditionally settles over the Indian capital in the winter months.
This year’s course was different from the one in the last two years.
Restricted course
To comply with pandemic protocols, the runners covered an opening stretch from the start point at Nehru Stadium before running two loops of approximately 6 km.
They then returned to the start-finish line outside the stadium by the same route.
Over the years, the ADHM has drawn top runners like former half-marathon world record holder Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea, Florence Kilpagat of Kenya, and Tirunesh Dibaba of Ethiopia.
Among the men, past participants have included 2012 London Olympic marathon gold medallist Stephen Kiprotich of Uganda, and marathon world record holder and London Marathon winner Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya.
Global icons have endorsed the marathon as ambassadors. Among them were Jamaica’s former 100m world record holder Asafa Powell and British Olympic and world decathlon champion Daley Thompson.
They also include cricketers Sir Richard Hadlee and Alan Border.
Also read: A time for GOATs; and there’s plenty of ‘em to pick from!
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