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by Bob Ramsak
Lornah Kiplagat set a pending world record over 20 kilometers today at the 1st IAAF World Road Running Championships in Debrecen, Hungary.
The 32-year-old Dutchwoman clocked 1:03:21, four seconds faster than the previous best set by Briton Paula Radcliffe in Bristol, England, in 2001. Constantina Tomescu of Romania was second, just two seconds behind Kiplagat, to also dip under the previous record.
Rita Jeptoo was third in 1:03:47 leading the Kenyan women to the team title over Ethiopia and Japan.
Look for more details and complete results in Monday's edition of Race Results Weekly.
Top Ten Results:
1. Lornah Kiplagat (Netherlands) 1:03:21
2. Constantina Tomescu (Romania) 1:03:23
3. Rita Jeptoo (Kenya) 1:03:47
4. Dire Tune (Ethiopia) 1:05:16
5. Edith Masai (Kenya) 1:05:21
6. Kayoko Fukushi (Japan) 1:05:32
7. Yurika Nakamura (Japan) 1:05:36
8. Natalya Berkut (Ukraine) 1:05:42
9. Souad Ait Salem (Algeria) 1:06:11
10. Teyeba Erkesso (Ethiopia) 1:06:15
Some notes to follow-up on Assistant Editor Ramsak's brief story:
1. The Association of Road Running Statisticians did not recognize Paula Radcliffe's 1:03:26 split from the 2001 IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships as the world record (ARRS does not recognize intermediate times for records while the IAAF does). In this paradigm, Kiplagat broke her own world record of 1:03:54 set in Alphen, NED, on 11-Mar-2001.
2. Speaking of intermediate times, Radcliffe ran an aided 1:02:21 for 20-K when she won the Great North Run half-marathon in 2003.
3. Tomescu-Dita and Kiplagat finished 1-2 at the IAAF World Half-Marathon Championships last year. Today's result reversed that order of finish.
4. This is the first world title for Kiplagat, and the first-ever world title in a road race (20-K, half-marathon or marathon) by a Dutch athlete.
5. Tomescu-Dita's time of 1:03:23 was a Romanian record; previous 1:06:15 by Mihaela Botezan at Paris 21-Oct-2000.
6. The top-3 finishers in Debrecen are all headed for a World Marathon Majors event in the fall: Kiplagat and Jeptoo to New York and Tomescu-Dita to Chicago.
David Monti, Editor & Publisher
Race Results Weekly
Since 1994
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