by Justin LagatTitus Ekiru was on 🔥 at the @milanomarathon this morning – his 2:02:57 is the fastest time in the world since 2019 and it moves him to joint-fifth on the all-time list. 🇰🇪🤯 pic.twitter.com/mLZeaIX2u6
— SPIKES (@spikesmag) May 16, 2021
The Milano Marathon is alot of fun. I visited there in 2019 and truly enjoyed the race, not knowing it woul be two plus years before I would see it again. Nice to see Titus do so darn well!
Kenya’s Titus Ekiru retained his Milano Marathon title in style by registering the fifth fastest time 2:2.57 to win the men’s race held Sunday in Italy.
^CG pic.twitter.com/ryAMnUtfok
— KBC English Service (@kbcenglish) May 16, 2021
Titus Ekiru ran a historic time of 2:02:57 this weekend at the Milano Marathon in Italy to break his own course record which he set in 2019.
The start lists, especially for the men’s comprised most of the emerging superstars in the marathon distance, and that was what made the race so interesting, despite the fact that it was only possible to track the leaderboards. There were accomplished and experienced runners in the field as well, including Abel Kirui the two times world champion. There was no live video coverage available in Kenya and the only way to enjoy the race was to keep checking updates after about every 2.5km.
It was a fast pace that stayed in the upper 2:50s/km for the better part of it before Ekiru made a move at around the 35km point and broke away from the leading pack. At 40km point, he was already 33 seconds ahead of his next competitor; Reuben Kipyego. The lead continued to stretch rapidly to about 1 minute as he crossed the finish line in 2:02:57. Kipyego came in 58 seconds later to take the second position ahead of Barnabas Kiptum who came in 1 minute and 19 seconds later.
His time eclipses the former world record run by Dennis Kimetto at the Berlin Marathon in 2014. It now places Ekiru’s performance in 5th of the all-time’s best. But, despite the historic and world-leading time, Ekiru is unfortunately not on the Kenyan national team to represent the nation at the Tokyo Olympic Games.
Amazing performances at #MilanoMarathon today! 2:02.57 for me and 2:19.35 for women! Nice job @GeneralItalia, @andreatrabuio, @rcssport, https://t.co/FL2494aqZg
— RunBlogRun (@RunBlogRun) May 17, 2021
The women’s race was also very competitive but there were early breaks and the leading pack disintegrated much earlier than in the men’s race. By 20km, Gebremaryam Gebrekidan had already built a gap of almost 20 seconds ahead of Rachel Chemutai and Eunice Chumba.
The three would continue to increase their respective gaps in what appeared to have been solo runs on their part. Gebrekidan crossed the finish line in 2:19:35, ahead of Chemutai coming second in 2:22:50, and Chumba completing the podium in 2:23:10.
