Kenyan duo grabs wins at Istanbul Marathon

More than 2,000 runners lined up to tackle the Istanbul Marathon on Sunday, which Kenyans Bernard Sang and Diana Chemtai Kipyogei won in well-contested races. Sang ran 2:11:49, smashing his PB by more than a minute and edging out compatriot Felix Kimutai, who finished in second in 2:12:00. Kipyogei also ran a PB, beating her previous best by one second with a 2:22:06 showing, topping the next runner by more than two minutes. Sang’s and Kipyogei’s wins are the biggest of their respective careers to date. 

Kipyokei leads Kenyan double at Istanbul Marathon

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Kipyogei’s late breakaway 

Kipyogei won the race by a large margin, but she ran with other athletes for most of the run. Early on in the race, she was in a group of six that included five Ethiopians. They passed through 10K in 34:10, and by the halfway mark (which they reached in 1:11:42), that lead pack was down to five women. A little later, the group was down to two — Kipyogei and Ethiopia’s Hiwot Gebrekidan, who ran to consecutive second-place finishes at the Ottawa Marathon in 2017 and 2018. 

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The pair ran together for much of the second half of the race, but between 35K and 40K, Kipyogei broke away from Gebrekidan. Her break proved successful, and Kipyogei ran to the victory unchallenged, crossing the line with the second-fastest time in race history (the course record is 2:18:35). Gebrekidan crossed the line in 2:24:30 to finish in second place, and Ethiopia’s Tigist Memuye came in third in 2:37:52.

Sang’s 42K battle 

In the men’s race, a sizeable group stuck together for much of the run. After the leaders recorded a half-marathon split of 1:07:15, nine men were still in contention for the win. At the 30K checkpoint, though, the group was down to six. In the final few kilometres, the lead pack was down to three men, with Sang and Kimutai accompanied by Hailu Zewdu of Ethiopia. Sang was able to gap the other two runners ahead of the finish, and he crossed the line with a healthy lead over Kimutai in second place. After falling well behind the Kenyans in the closing stages of the race, Zewdu ran to third in 2:12:23. After a win at the Izmir Marathon in October, this was Sang’s second victory in Turkey in just over a month. 

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Full results from the Istanbul Marathon can be found here.