The Tokyo Olympic 10,000m champion is certainly one of a quantity observe runners which have not too long ago impressed on the roads
Selemon Barega has clocked 2:05:15 on his debut over 26.2 miles on the Seville Marathon.
The Tokyo Olympic 10,000m champion, who’s sixth on the gloabl half-marathon all-time record with 57:50, was on for a sub-2:03 run however petered off within the final 10km.
Solely 12 athletes in historical past have gone sub-2:03 within the marathon and, for some time, Barega was on target to affix that record.
The Ethiopian went by way of half-way in 61:44 however struggled within the latter phases and his second half was 63:31, with the ultimate 2.2km being at 2:24:30 marathon tempo.
“First marathon, first win, first marathon wall,” Barega mentioned. “See you quickly with extra expertise for quicker instances!”
Selemon Barega clinches 10,000m gold (Getty)
Barega first got here to prominence when he received 5000m gold on the 2016 World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, earlier than turning into the world youth champion over 3000m a 12 months later in Nairobi.
The Ethiopian secured his first senior main gold medal within the 3000m on the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade. He has additionally claimed world indoor silver and bronze medals within the self-discipline.
Barega is a world silver and bronze out of doors medallist within the 5000m and 10,000m respectively however his biggest achievement got here on the Tokyo Olympics, when he received gold within the 10,000m within the Japanese capital.
Various athletes who’ve starred on the observe have translated their talent to the roads.
Jacob Kiplimo (Daniel Meumann for Sportmedia.es)
The newest instance is Jacob Kiplimo, who set a world half-marathon report of 56:42 on the Barcelona Half final weekend.
Not solely did Kiplimo take an unimaginable 48 seconds off Yomif Kejelcha’s world report, he additionally turned the primary human in historical past to run a sub-57 minute half-marathon.
Kiplimo and Kejelcha have respective 10km bests of 26:48 and 26:37, which compares to Barega’s 26:44.48 on the observe.
Barega’s compatriot Berihu Aregawi, the Olympic 10,000m silver medallist from Paris, will make his a lot anticipated half-marathon debut in Lisbon subsequent month.
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