The Valencia half marathon has witnessed a double Spanish record this Sunday. The Aragonese Carlos Mayo has shattered the previous record by crossing the finish line with a time of 59 minutes and 39 seconds while the Extremaduran Laura Luengo has broken the distance record in the female category, reducing the time to 1 hour 9 minutes and 41 seconds.
Two new marks for Spanish athletes that once again demonstrate the high level of Spanish athletics. Luengo has reduced the previous record by ten seconds, which had been held by Trihas Gebre since 2018. "I am super happy, I planned, despite not feeling very well, to fight for the record and at kilometer 14 I started working to to try to reduce seconds and in the end I succeeded," said the woman from Extremadura after crossing the finish line.
"I had the expectation of trying to do the minimum for the European Championship and, if I felt very good, try for the Spanish record. I didn't believe it, I was thinking about it when I was achieving splits of 3:15 and I told myself 'trust that you can' and when there were 100 meters left I knew I had it and it was incredible," he stressed.
In the men's event, Mayo has managed to beat the mark that Fabián Roncero had held for 22 years (59m52s). "I looked at the splits every five kilometers to position myself with respect to the mark and I saw that I was going fast but I had the feeling that my legs were swelling and I knew that that pace was impossible to maintain, but I saw that if I slowed down a little and saved my strength for the last five kilometers I had legs," he explained. "I was able to enjoy it in the end, it was crazy and I dedicate it to all the people who believed in me and those who didn't because that has also motivated me," he said.
The Valencia half marathon has become the fastest of 2023 with a spectacular finish to the race in which three men crossed the finish line almost at the same time, almost breaking the world record for this distance. The first place on the podium went to two Kenyan compatriots, Kibiwot Kandie and Margaret Chelimo, who won this 32nd edition of a race that included 22,000 participants.
Kandie, who obtained his third victory in Valencia, revalidated the title he won last year, although he could not achieve the objective of lowering the world record, despite the fact that in the first stages of the race he was in projected times of achieving it.
The strong pace set by Kandie could only be followed by the Ethiopians Hagos Gebrhiwet, Yomif Kejelcha and Selemon Barega, who formed the quartet that would star in the race to the finish line. The four runners reached the last kilometer together with their minds set and only on victory. Kejecha was the first to set a faster pace, which overtook Barega, and with 400 meters to go it was Kandie who surprised the two Ethiopians with a strong attack that allowed him to gain enough advantage to take the victory with a time of 57 :40 minutes.
Among the women, the expectation was somewhat lower, since there was no attempt to attack the world record, but they could enjoy a good race, in which the Kenyans Margaret Chelimo, Irine Cheptai and Janet Chepngetich surpassed kilometer 15 together in search Victory. Chelimo's faster pace in the final stretch of the race left Chepngetich with no options and only Irine Cheptai was able to resist her compatriot a few more meters, who in the last kilometer acquired a comfortable lead to secure the victory by stopping the clock at 1:04: 46, followed by Cheptai at 7 seconds and third Chepngetich at 29 seconds.
