Regasa wins Delhi Half Marathon, Sable fastest Indian

Ethiopia's Chala Regasa beat a spirited challenge from Kenyan Felix Kipkoech to win the elite men's race in the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon here on Sunday. Regasa ran the 21.097km in 1 hour and 30 seconds, three seconds faster than Kipkoech. Boki Diriba of Ethiopia was a surprise third (1 hour, 34 seconds).

The new look course was expected to threaten the meet record of 58:53 minutes -- set by Ethiopia's Amedework Walelegn in 2020 -- but it turned out to be one of the slowest iterations of the event. Regasa's winning time is the fourth slowest in the race's history; the last time the winner went over an hour was in 2012.

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The elite international runners put the slow timings down to heat. "It was certainly a reason. It got really hot as the (race) wore on, so I decided to just run for the position and not be too focussed on pace. It paid off," Regasa, who was a pacemaker when Eluid Kipchoge ran a sub 2-hour marathon in Vienna three years back, said.

Regasa and Kipkoech set the early pace on a misty morning though Kenya's Michael Kamau led at the halfway stage. Regasa gradually worked his way to the front, staying behind race leader Kipkoech. With 400 metres to go, the Ethiopian found an extra gear and went past Kipkoech.

The 25-year-old moved from track to road running five years back. He has two sub-60 minute runs this year, in Barcelona (59:10) and Copenhagen (59:13). The Delhi event is his first victory this season.

"I picked up pace after the 16km mark and kept pushing myself. The last 500m were crucial and I am happy I could accelerate and win," Regasa added. Pre-race favourite Mukta Edris of Ethiopia finished eighth (61:05).

Cheptai wins

Kenya's Irene Cheptai, fourth here in 2019 and 2020, comfortably won the elite women's race, clocking 66 minutes, 42 seconds, the slowest in four years.

"It was a tough race. The course was fast but the conditions were not easy. I tried to push after 15km despite the heat and am pleasantly surprised with the result," said the 30-year-old, who won the 10,000m silver at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games.

Sable wins photo finish

Avinash Sable won the men's race among Indian runners. India's distance ace was locked in a neck-to-neck battle with Kartik Kumar before winning in a photo finish. Sable, 28, and Kumar clocked an identical 64 minutes after crossing the 15km and 20km marks together. Kartik appeared to have sealed the top spot but Sable picked up pace in the final few metres to force a photo finish. Srinu Bugatha, the runner-up in 2020, was third (65:25 min).

The top three Indian men finished 14th, 15th and 16th overall.

Sable and Kartik stayed on the heels of the international pack for eight kilometres before falling behind. "That's when we decided to run our own race and focus on maintaining our position rather than pushing for a particular time," said Sable, who clocked a national record (60:30) here two years ago.

"Back then, my focus was to log a good time. Delhi half marathon was the only competition I ran in 2020 and I was in prime shape. This time, I had not trained for this event and I knew matching my best time would be tough," said the 3000m steeplechaser.

A remarkable year saw him break the steeplechase national record thrice -- the last effort to bag a historic silver at the Commonwealth Games. After a break, Sable started his off-season training barely a fortnight ago. Preparation for road races takes 3-4 months but he didn't have the time, he said.

"Post CWG, there were a lot of felicitations and I also needed some rest and recovery. There was hardly any time to prepare, so my main goal was to finish at the top among Indians. I have put on some weight too which I will shed during my off-season training," Sable said.

"I plan to begin training in right earnest in January-February. My training in Colorado Springs was a gamechanger, so I wish to train in the US with quality partners," said Sable. Plans are afoot to train in Arizona early next year.

"It's going to be a busy year, but I want to start the season late, maybe around May, so that I peak by the World Championships in August. Ideally, I want to touch 8:05 minutes at the Worlds. A sub 8-minute time is also on the radar, though I want to approach it step by step. If you want to do well at the Olympics, you must be capable of running under eight minutes," he said.

Sanjivani Jadhav recorded the fastest time among Indian women (1:17:53), followed by Monika Athare (1:18:39) and Priti Lamba (1:19:06).

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