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The top two podium positions in the women's category were taken by Kenyans.
Roncer Kipkorir and Irene Kimais are the 2023 Prague Half Marathon men’s and women’s champions respectively.
Kipkorir emerged champion after cutting the tape in 59:42 to shutter Ethiopia’s Atsedu Tsegay’s course record of 58:47 set in 2012.
Uganda’s Maxwell Rotich clocked a personal best time of 1:00:06 to place second. Another Kenyan, Geoffrey Koech, settled for third place in a time of 1:00:11.
The first 3km had a pack of five men looking poised for title contention. Kenya’s Bernard Kimeli, however, was the highlight of the leading pack as he was running at the front and looked comfortable.
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Passing the 10km mark, the pack still had five men, but Kipkorir, Laban Korir and Rotich, were now fighting for the top spot as they were dominating the race.
Kipkorir then decided to part from the pack at the 12km mark and increased momentum. The quartet tried to close the gap but Kipkorir was in a class of his own as he continued widening the gap.
Kipkorir looked confident and strong and as he was making the last turn to the finish line, the rest of the pack was nowhere to be seen. With the finish line in sight, Kipkorir unleashed a finishing kick to cross the finish line first.
Kipkorir expressed his excitement to bag the title saying, “I am satisfied with the time I have posted and I am happy. It was not easy to run alone but I tried my best.”
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In the women’s category, Kimais was also in the leading pack from gun to tape as she obliterated the strong field to win in 1:06:01. Another Kenyan, Janeth Chepng’etich settled for second place (1:06:42) as Ethiopia’s Ftaw Zeray placed third in 1:07:17.
Passing the 5km mark was a pack of five women who were led by defending champion Nesphine Jepleting and Ethiopia’s Aynadis Mebratu. Kimais was following closely behind them in the leading pack.
As they were passing through the 10km mark, the group of five had now been reduced to four with two Ethiopians and two Kenyans fighting for top honours.
Kimais also decided to part from the leading pack at the 13km mark. On her part, she maintained her consistency running closely behind the pacer. At the 19km mark, Kimais dropped the pacer and she was on her own.
She maintained the momentum and her hard work paid off well as she crossed the finish line first.
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