by Justin Lagat
RunBlogRun visited Daegu, Korea, in 2011 for the World Championships, living in a Love Hotel (another story) for the two weeks. Korea was a blast, as I developed a true love of all Korean food (Kimchi in the fridge), liked Korean beer, and much of the culture. Justin Lagat wrote the following about Paul Tanui’s debut over 42.2 kilometers.
Another long-distance track star hopes to transition successfully into the marathon distance this weekend in Daegu, South Korea.
In a very competitive field that has got Kenya’s two-times world marathon Champion, Abel Kirui; Abraham Kiptoo, fourth place finisher at the 2022 Amsterdam Marathon, and Ethiopia’s Asefa Mengstu, whose PB is just six seconds away from a sub-2:04 marathon, among others, Kenya’s Paul Tanui will be making his marathon debut at the Daegu Marathon on Sunday 2nd.
From 2009 to 2021, Tanui featured prominently in the men’s 10,000m track event, where he registered an amazing personal best time of 26:49:41. Of late, he has been shifting his focus more to road running and currently has a personal best time of 28:39 for the 10 km and 1:02:48 for the half marathon distances.
The slender runner who weighs 50kg has been one of the consistent runners to represent Kenya at the Olympics and World Championships, winning a silver medal at the Rio Olympic Games in 2016 and bronze medals in Moscow 2013, Beijing 2015, and London 2017 world championships. He also won a silver medal at the 2011 world cross country championships in Punta Umbria.
At 32 years, it will be interesting to see whether Tanui is making the transition to marathon running at the right time and whether his physique is suited for the new distance.
The course record times of 2:05:33 and 2:21:56 for men and women, respectively, could be an indication that the course is not one of the fastest courses in the world. So, a top finish position should be the aim for Tanui going into the race.
In the women’s race, Namibia’s Helalia Johannes, the 2018 Commonwealth Games’ marathon champion, leads the elite field with a personal best time of 2:19:52. With her PB being more than 3 minutes faster than that of her nearest competitor, she appears to be a clear favorite to take the title.
Ethiopia’s Abebech Afework Bekele (2:23:23) and Kenya’s Risper Chebet (2:23:45) are the other women with sub 2:25:00 personal best times on the start list.
