GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON ON SUNDAY:
Daniel Ebenyo targets fast time in the Berlin Half Marathon.
from Race News Services
Records could tumble in Sunday’s GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON despite a relatively warm weather forecast. Daniel Ebenyo, Kenya’s silver medallist from last year’s World Half Marathon Championships, is the favorite. While he targets the course record of 58:42, there is a German favorite in the women’s race: Ethiopian-born Melat Kejeta, who won the silver medal at the World Half Marathon Championships in 2020, could produce a rare home victory and might go for her own German record of 65:18. The 65:15 European mark from Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands would then come under threat as well. Germany’s biggest and most prestigious race at this distance registered a record entry of 38,712 runners.
A number of elite European and German runners will target qualification for the European Championships in Rome in June. Qualifying times stand at 61:40 and 70:30 respectively. For the first time the GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON is a “Label Road Race“ of the international athletics federation World Athletics.
The Men’s Race
It would be a major upset if the winner of the men’s race would not be an athlete from Kenya. All the six runners with personal bests of sub 60 minutes are from Kenya. Daniel Ebenyo is most likely the athlete to beat on Sunday. The 28-year-old has not yet run sub 59:00, and his PB stands at 59:04. But since taking the runner-up spot in the World Half Marathon Championships in Riga, Latvia, last October, Daniel Ebenyo has won all of the following races. Among these was a victory in Kalkutta’s 25k race with a world-best time of 1:11:13. This record he set in India indicates that Ebenyo should be capable of running well under the course record in the GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON. “It is my goal to run faster than ever before,“ said Daniel Ebenyo.
Another Kenyan runner who could do very well in Berlin is Bravin Kiprop. He took the Sevilla Half Marathon earlier this year and improved to 59:21, which at that time was a world-leading time. “It is my aim to improve my best in Berlin,“ said Bravin Kiprop.
Simon Boch is the fastest German on the start list with 61:23 while Samuel Fitwi returns to the race where he set his personal record of 61:44 a year ago. Fitwi smashed his marathon PB in Dubai in January when he ran 2:06:27 and became the second-fastest German ever. “I trained in Addis…
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