In Berlin, the opening half marathon was run in 1:01:11 the fastest opening half of a marathon ever. It's also the fastest opening or closing half of a marathon.
It got me thinking we should compile a result of the fastest opening and closing splits in a marathon and maybe even intermediate splits.
Here's what I came up with.
Fastest Opening Slits / 2nd half / Winning Time
Berlin 2016 1:01:11 / 1:01:52 / 2:03:03 Kenenisa Bekele
London 2016 1:01:24 / 1:01:41 / 2:03:05 Eliud Kipchoge
???? Dubai 2008 1:01:27 / 1:03:26 / 2:04:53 Haile Gebrselassie
????
Chicago 1985 Steve Jones 1:01:42 / 1:04:31 2:07:13 Steve Jones
Fastest 2nd Half Split / Winning Time
Berlin 2014 61:12 / 2:02:57 Dennis Kimetto WR
???
Splits in World Record Marathons
2:02:57 Dennis Kimetto Berlin 2014 1:01:45/1:01:12
2:03:23 Wilson Kipsang Berlin 2013 1:01:34/1:01:49 (i've also seen 1:01:33 as first split)
2:03:38 Patrick Makau Berlin 2011 61:44/61:54
2:03:59 Haile Gebrselassie Berlin 2008 62:05/61:54
2:04:26 Haile Gebrselassie Berlin 2007 62:29/61:57
2:04:55 Paul Tergat Berlin 2003 1:03:04/1:01:51
I need help on the fastest 2nd half splits for sure.
Also curious about fastest 5k/10k splits. This site has some info on that:
http://www.rrm.com/Newsarchives/archive09/Fastest%20Marathon%20Splits.pdf
And this thread wants to know what the fastest mile ever was in a marathon:
http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=1306576&page=1