Official 2020 World Half Marathon Championships Live Discussion Thread

Poor Wanders... he gaps the field and the commentators refuse to take him seriously.

Picking up Kandie in lead, Wanders dropped back from his early leading. Wanders in an old pair of green Next %

The entire lead pack look like they're in 1 of 2 shoes, the Nike Vaporflys (not Alphafly) or Adidas Adizero. So hardly an 'open' field of shoes ...

If you weren't up for the women. Here are the notes Jonathan Gault took.

Women’s race

Weather at start of women’s race: 46 degrees and overcast, 8 mph wind out of ENE

15:20 at 5k. 13 women in lead group. Joyciline Jepkosgei has done most of the pushin.

Gudeta falls at 29:00. She gets dropped and can never recover.

30:47 at 10k (15:27). Now down to 7 women in lead group. All African-born

Jepchirchir to the front at 39:30 and tries to make a move but then backs off a bit.

46:24 at 15k (15:37). 7 women still there -- yimer, yehualaw, yeshaneh, kejeta, Can, Jepchirchir, Jepkosgei

On final lap at 53:50 mark, yeshaneh, while leading, falls down, jepkosgei goes down with her. Timer and Can were already getting dropped.

That allows the top three to get a gap -- kejeta, yehealaw, and jepchirchir. Jepkosgei and gudeta were with them as the others were being dropped

Sun has come up now at end of final lap

They’re three wide with 800 to go

Yehealawa and jepchirchir get a gap on Kejeta just before the final straight.

Jepkosgei takes inside and makes a hard stride heading into final straight

Yehealaw lost her balance on one of the boards on the final straight and fades to third

Quick Take: How would this race have been different without the falls?

As great as Peres Jepchirchir was today, this is the question that has to be asked. Gudeta, the defending champion, went down just before 10k and was never able to regain contact with the lead group. And Yeshaneh’s fall around 17k -- which also brought down Jepkosgei -- served as the key move that enabled the eventual medalists to break away. Even Yehualaw lost her balance in the final sprint, catching her foot in one of the temporary boards put down to create the finishing straightaway on the beach.

Though Jepkosgei was still with the lead pack, she was grimacing as she went down. And Jepchirchir had already pulled ahead of Yehualaw entering the final straight. But Yeshaneh set the world record eight months ago, looked comfortable, and was leading the race with less than 5k to go. It’s a shame we’ll never know what would have happened had she stayed on her feet.

Quick Take: Peres Jepchirchir back on top of the world

Four years ago, Jepchirchir was the best half marathoner in the world, winning the World Half title in 2016 and adding the world record to her resume at RAK in 2017. She became pregnant soon thereafter, however, and missed the rest of 2017 and almost all of 2018 recovering. She showed promise last year by running 66:54 in Lisbon in October, and this fall proved she is back to her very best, setting two women’s-only world records and taking down a loaded field today in Gdynia.

For further proof of Jepkosgei’s greatness, take a look at the women to have won multiple World Half Marathon titles. It’s studly group:

Tegla Loroupe, Kenya (’97, ’98, ’99)

Paula Radcliffe, Great Britain (’00, ’01, ’03)

Lornah Kiplagat, Netherlands (’06, ’07, ’08)

Peres Jepchirchir, Kenya (’16, ’20)

Slow first 5k, 14.19

Another giver of +1 wrote:

Slow first 5k, 14.19

Mo Farah must be kicking himself not coming.

So they were 14:19 at 5k. Tim Hutchings and Mara Yamauchi - teh annnouncers - are acting like that's crazy slow. It's not really. It's just over 60 flat pace. So they are 10 seconds per mile off the WR basically. It's like 4:36 pace vs 4:26 pace.

They said by going slow they are playing into Cheptegei's hands. Well wouldn't the 10,000 WR holder also be incredibly good at a super fast pace?

Yes if they went super fast, you might wonder how he'd do at the end of it. But they are assuming this will turn into a 10k. If anything, couldnt one argue that Cheptegei is MOST vulnerable in a super slow race?

Amdouni will be the first European today

About 24 in the lead pack. Last 5k going to be very fast after this dawdling start.

Cheptegei and Kiplimo have to be loving this. A slow start is excellent for the track stars.

Kandi and Adola going hard now, second 5k split will be quick.

Kandie slows, not liking Adola sitting on him.

Someone is going to punch Adola. He wouldnt know how to lead if he was the only guy in the race ...

Lead pack growing as pace slows. Cheptegei and Adola leading, Wanders up front again!

28:23, 14:04 second 5k.

28'23 after 10 km

Cheptegei looks at his watch!

drtoneill wrote:

Someone is going to punch Adola. He wouldnt know how to lead if he was the only guy in the race ...

Well, he's Ethiopian..

Wanders looks good to me. I hope he has a big race after his struggles this season.