 |
| Peres Jepchirchi |
PRAGUE - The miracle has been accomplished! Peres Jepchirchir set a new world record in the Women’s Only race. As part of the Prague 21.1 km - Ready for the Restart project, the Kenyan ran the half marathon in an incredible time of 1:05:34. The men's race was won by Kibiwott Kandie with a time of 58:38, fifth best time ever in history.
Peres Jepchirchir completely dominated the 16.5 laps of the race on the 1.3 kilometer oval course in Prague's Letna Park. After just 20 minutes of racing he broke off his rivals, chasing his victory in what became a great solo race. "I'm just happy and proud. Even if I thought for a moment I could finish the race in the time limit of 65 minutes, I'm very happy with the time and especially with the new record", Jepchirchir didn't hide her emotions.
I also smiled from the President of the Organizing Committee of RunCzech Carlo Capalbo, who literally kicked off the whole project with his team in just four weeks. “I don't even know what to say,” he says searching for the words, “To organize a world-class event in such a short time is incredible. I think we have just created a model for other races around the world. This could be a model of how we can work in a pandemic. The end may be far away, but we are not giving up, "added Capalbo.
Capalbo, also President of Napoli Running, the organizing company of the Naples City Half Marathon, has clear ideas about his city: "There is a dream and we will do everything to bring a great champion like Peres Jepchirchir, today world record holder, to run on the streets of Naples for a unique show on February 28, 2021 ".
Very early Saturday morning, the start of the women's race was at 6:20, Prague witnessed a truly top show. The female elite, who usually see men acting as pacemakers, had to rely on themselves this time; Jepchirchir practically ran alone for more than two thirds of the race. "Racing alone is really difficult, but the fact that she has succeeded is all the more precious," said the former record holder who has regained the record. His performance was also praised by the president of the Czech athletics federation, Libor Varhaník. "Incredible, I am very happy that such a performance was successful in the Czech Republic. Peres raced alone, which makes her performance truly unique," he said.
Peres knows how important and fantastic it can be to achieve world leadership. In 2017, she was the fastest half marathoner of all time, when she ran 1:05:06 in Ras al-Khaimah, a race with male pacemakers. However, the world record was in her hands for just seven months and today she is the seventh fastest woman in history. In the Women’s Only race, Peres took the world record this morning with an overwhelming performance: his time of 1:05:34 is 37 seconds better than the previous record of Netsanet Gudeta (1:06:11 in Valencia 2018).
Brenda Jepleting (1:07:07) raced for silver. "I was supposed to run as a pacemaker up to the tenth kilometer, but Peres had to keep his pace. Fortunately, I had enough energy to finish second," said Brenda. Dorcas Kimeli came in third with her hands above her head (1:07:14). "My training was not ideal and the start of the race was very fast, so I am satisfied with how I managed the finish line" - she said.