Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Zurich half marathon wants to outwit all records in the only event held on Sunday that He only misses the men’s world record, held by Lisbon by only one second from Valencia, which will be attacked by Ethiopians yumif kegelcha and Solomon Barega.
The event director, Paco Burao, warned already at the race presentation when he mentioned that “we want records” and that is that although they hold the women’s world record and both national records, they could also be crushed by some elite athletes who did not want to miss the Valencia event.
The 57: 31 of Kiplimo can fly through the busy Valencian streets with kegelcha, His best record is ten seconds behind the world record and the fifth fastest time in history (57:41) and with Pareja, the 10,000 th Olympic champion in Tokyo, who arrived with the confidence that he raced in Valencia last year in 57:50.
Kijelcha arrives at the Valencia Half Marathon after an Olympic year at a great level with amazing times and a personal best of over 5000 meters (12: 38.95) and 10,000 m (26: 31.01), but without the ice on Olympic glory, he must settle for sixth place in the 25 laps of the track in Paris.
For his part, Pareja in 2024 had a season in the style of kigelcha, after which he entered directly in Paris. Less experienced than his compatriot, Pareja faces his third adventure on 21.097 m with a good memory of his participation in the last edition.
The Kenyan team will try by all means to win Kibbutz Kandy last year, Whoever broke the world record in Valencia, 57.32 in 2020, will continue this year with Daniel Matiko and Isiah Kipkoech lasoi.
Matiko, already tanned in nine stockings, knows Valencian ways perfectly, He placed third in both 2021 and 2022 and with 58:26 as a personal best he will have to improve if he wants to face the Ethiopian duo while lasoi comes from third place in Copenhagen six weeks ago with a personal best of 58:10 in his fourth average for 2024.
A for the record, also in women
The shadow of the women’s world record will also hover over the Valencia Half Marathon with Agnes Ngetich , who has already broken the world record of 10 thousand In the city on January 13, thanks to the stratospheric timing of 28:46, and despite its novice status, a serious record attempt is not out of the question, which is currently held by the Ethiopian letsenbet Gedi who achieved 1:02: 52 in Valencia in 2021.
At the back will be fed the group consisting of Tsige gebrselama, Lilian ringirok and ejayhu Tai. The main European tricks should be the British Samantha Harrison, who improved last year to 1:07:10 in Valencia and the German Constanze Klosterhalfen, the impressive winner of her debut two years ago with 1:05:41, although she does not seem to be going through her best moments.
But the national athletes also have a lot to say about the Valencian asphalt with the debutant Thierry ndikomoynayo, who at the Olympics stunned the 10,000 meters and crushed the Spanish record with 26:49.49 and his performance imagines that he is able to beat the Spanish record That was beaten just a year ago by Carlos Mayo with 59: 39 in Valencia after 22 years.
Ndikomoynayo will also have in the rearview mirror the 59:13 held by the Swiss Julian Wanderers as the European record and his rivals will be the Portuguese Samuel Parata (national record last year with 59:40), the Italian European runner-up Pietro Riva (59: 41) and the British Emile Caires (60: 01), fourth at the Paris Games in the marathon.
As for the women’s record, they noted from the organization that that mark was signed by Laura Longo Just a year ago, thanks to her 1: 09: 41, she has several ballots to evaporate on Sunday because the athlete’s physical fitness announces an improvement at that time. Luongo will start at a high pace of 3: 16/3: 17 per kilometer to very seriously threaten the 1: 09 barrier.
Although it may be the case that she achieved it and still did not keep the record, because both the debutant Irene severniches Escribano, a finalist in the 3000-meter hurdles in Paris 2024, and polid Kotar are planning to come up with this identical rhythm, which could become a three-way duel.
