Istanbul Marathon Men’s and Women’s Elite Preview

Twelve runners with personal bests of sub 2:10 will feature in the N Kolay Istanbul Marathon on Sunday. Marius Kimutai of Bahrain and Kenya’s Samuel Kosgei head the start list with times of 2:05:47 and 2:06:03, respectively. With this great strength in depth, it is expected that the Turkish all-comers record of 2:09:27 will be attacked in Turkey’s major marathon event. Meanwhile, the national record holder Sultan Haydar starts a comeback on Sunday. The Turk is the fastest athlete on the women’s start list with her personal best of 2:24:44. Seven women entered into the 44th edition of the N Kolay Istanbul Marathon have PBs of sub 2:28.

With a total of around 60,000 entries, including races at shorter distances, the N Kolay Istanbul Marathon will be among the world’s biggest road races since the times before the Corona pandemic. The intercontinental course leads the runners from the Asian side of the city into Europe. It then features a tough uphill stretch to the finish on Sultanahmet Square in the historic center. The N Kolay Istanbul Marathon, a World Elite Label Road Race of World Athletics, starts at 9 am on Sunday. A live stream with English commentary available worldwide can be accessed at Watch Athletics.

With both the 2:09:44 course record of Kenya’s Daniel Kibet from 2019 and the Turkish allcomers’ record in mind the race organisers plan for a fast half marathon split time of 63:30 to 63:45. A negative split is not likely in Istanbul because of the uphill section late in the race, which leads the runners to the spectacular finish. “I am okay with this sort of pace if the weather conditions are suitable and there is good pacemaking,“ said Marius Kimutai, who switched from Kenyan citizenship to Bahrain in 2017. “I have trained for three months in Kapsabet for this marathon, and I am also prepared for the climb up to the finish.“

Marius Kimutai trained together with Samuel Kosgei in the high-altitude training camp in Kapsabet. “We will probably help each other during the race as we are training partners,“ said the Kenyan, the only one in the field who once broke a world record. In Berlin’s 25k race, he clocked 1:11:50 in 2010. “That is a long time ago, so I don’t rate this that high anymore,“ said Samuel Kosgei, who took the Barcelona Marathon with his current PB of 2:06:03 a year ago. The Kenyan returned to the race in Spain this spring but this time had to settle for 12th position in 2:08:59. “I had a hip injury…