Ethiopians Roza Dereje and Kinde Atanaw p.roduced impressive victories at the Maraton Valencia Trinidad Alfonso, a World Athletics Gold Label road race, in the eastern Spanish city.
In the women’s race Roza clocked 2:18:30 to move up to No. 8 on the all-time world list while pulling the next three finishers under 2:19, the first time four women have broken that barrier in the same race.
At 40 kilometers, Rosa lead in 1:55:04 alongside Birhane, with Cheruiyot one second adrift and Azmera, who finally joined the trio, for company. From there, Dereje began to step up her pace to open a sizeable margin on Cheruiyot and Birhane. But Azmera kept up the pressure.
Roza, who was third in this year’s London Marathon, kept her compatriot at bay to finish in 2:18:30, improving her lifetime best by 47 seconds to break into the all-time top-10. Azmera was next in 2:18:33, a massive 3:18 improvement for the 21-year-old.Berhane Dibaba came third in 2:18.46 to fill the podium as Ethiopia sweeping the medal table.
The men’s race was nearly as impressive, with the top-four all dipping under 2:05. By 35 kilometers, the lead pack was composed of Ethiopians Abebe Negewo Degefa, Alayew, Guye Adola, Kenya’s Kacheran and Turkey’s Ozbilen.
The 26-year-old Kinde broke the tape in 2:03:53 while Ozbilen clocked 2:04:16 to clip nearly a full minute from Mo Farah’s European record and lower his previous best by 1:11. Guye Adola completed a quality podium at 2:04:42 with Abebe Degefa next in 2:04:5, improving his career best by two minutes.