Posted: October 3, 2004

Athletics: Kirui And Sun Win World Half-Marathon Titles

From David Monti

(c) 2004 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

Paul Kirui of Kenya and Sun Yiigjie of China each won their first IAAF World Half-Marathon titles today in New Delhi, India.

Kirui, 24, kept the gold medal in the Kenyan camp for the third straight year: 2002 and 2003 gold medalists, Paul Kosgei and Martil Lel, did not take part in today's race. Kirui crossed the finish line in a slow 1:02:15 in warm and very humid conditions.

Fabiano Joseph of Tanzania, last year's silver medalist, repeated as runner up, 16 seconds behind Kirui. Abdullah Ahmad Hassan of Qatar, the former Kenyan athlete Albert Chepkurui, got the first world half-marathon medal for Qatar, finishing third in a national record 1:02:36.

The top-13 men in the race were born in Africa, including 49 year-old Haile Satayin of Israel, who finished 12th in 1:04:41.

The Kenyan men regained their team title, after slipping to the silver medal position last year, beating Ethiopia handily and relegating defending champions, the Tanzanians, to 7th place.

The United States team finished tenth, led by Justin Young in 18th place, in 1:05:33.

In the women's competition Sun, who celebrated her 27th birthday today, won by 20 seconds in 1:08:40, a national record. Kenyan Lydia Cheromei finished second in a personal best 1:09:40, while Romanian Constantina Tomescu-Dita --20th at the Olympic Marathon just 42 days a go-- finished third in 1:09:07. Irishwoman Sonia O'Sullivan finished fourth. Tomescu-Dita will also contest the LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon next Sunday.

The team title went to Ethiopia, their first. Eyerusalem Kuma (6th), Bezunesh Bekele (8th) and Teyba Erkesso (15th) totaled 3:36:00, a scant eight seconds faster than second place Romania.

Emily Nay (1:17:09) was the top U.S. finisher in 33rd place.

Look for a complete report with results in tomorrow's Race Results Weekly.