Berlin Half Marathon Elite Preview

Friday, 05 April 2024

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 regarded as 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.

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A number of European and German elite 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 that have 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 runner from Kenya 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 personal 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 Abeba and I am in fine shape. My goal is to run well under my personal best,“ said Samuel Fitwi, who could cause a surprise in Berlin.

The Women’s Race

15 years after Sabrina Mockenhaupt won the GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON in 2009 there could be another German victory. Germany’s record holder Melat Kejeta, who also holds the European women only record (races without male pacemakers) with 65:18 returns to the GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON. Kejeta has indeed won the race before. But when she triumphed in 2018 with 69:04 she still competed for Ethiopia. A year later Melat Kejeta received German citizenship.

„My first goal is to run faster than the 66:25 I ran in Valencia last year. If all goes well during the race then I will try to attack my personal best,“ said Melat Kejeta, who is not too worried about the warm weather forecast.

Melat Kejeta’s former fellow-countrywomen Ftaw Zeray and Yalemget Yaregal from Ethiopia will probably be the strongest opponents for Melat Kejeta. Zeray has a PB of 66:04 while Yaregal was third at the GENERALI BERLIN HALF MARATHON last year in 66:27.

Switzerland’s half marathon record holder Fabienne Schlumpf is the second fastest European runner on the start list. She has a personal record of 68:27. Three other Europeans with sub 70:00 personal bests are on the start list: Italy’s Sofia Yaremchuk (68:28) and Germans Deborah Schöneborn (69:41) and Miriam Dattke (69:43).

Elite runners with personal bests:

MEN

Daniel EbenyoKEN59:04

Bravin KipropKEN59:21

Isaia LasoiKEN59:27

Cosmas Boi KEN 59:29

Amos KurgatKEN59:34

Benard Biwott KEN 59:44

Jake SmithGBR60:31

Pasquale Selvarolo ITA 60:32

Diego EstradaUSA60:49

Kipsambul Kimakal KEN 61:20