byAlfonz Juck
Meskerem Assefa, Aramco Houston, photo by PhotoRun.net
NAGOYA (JPN, Mar 11): Ethiopia’s Meskerem Assefa won the Nagoya Women´s Marathon in a 2:21:45 PB with negative splits of 71:32/70:13. “I wanted to win, especially because it is a women only marathon,” Assefa told the IAAF. Kenya’s Valary Jemeli, who led by 17 seconds at 30km and 16 seconds at 35km, was second in 2:22:48 with Japan runners filling the next four spots: Hanami Sekine (2:23:07 debut), Reia Iwade (2:26:28), Keiko Nogami (2:26:33 PB) and Hanae Tanaka (2:27:40). The top-11 athletes broke the sub-2:30 barrier with Poland’s Karolina Nadolska the top European finisher in 14th in 2:30:46. After passing through halfway with the leading group in 71:33, world fourth-placer Filomena Cheyech faded to 19th in 2:33:01.
Meskerem Assefa, Frankfurt, photo by PhotoRun.net
