Brigid Kosgei and Yomif Kejelcha highlight an exciting weekend of athletics action

“This was preparation for the London Marathon next month. I’m really happy. I appreciate what I have run today. Thanks to the organizers, I appreciate what you have done,” Kosgei said after the race.After Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa lowered her world record mark of 2:14:04 to 2:11:53 in September last year, Kosgei’s run here in Lisbon could indicate that she might be plotting to reclaim the record.

The Villa De Laredo 10K was another race that lived up to its hype as Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha ran a spectacular solo run, just to fade towards the end and miss the world record as he recorded the third fastest time in history of 26:37. Finishing behind him was Uganda’s reigning and three-time world 10,000m champion, Joshua Cheptegei, who registered an Olympic qualifying time of 26:53.

“I came to Laredo to break the world record, but it was impossible. Around the eighth kilometer, I felt some discomfort in my hip and could not maintain my speed,” said Kejelcha.

The weekend of March 16th to 17th witnessed what seemed to be the weekend with the most races happening across the world.

Kenyan men dominated all the top ten positions, except the 9th, at the Rome Marathon, where Asbel Kiprop Rutto set a new course record of 2:06:24. They did the same at the New Taipei Marathon, won by Cyrus Mutai in 2:09:31, where they only spared the 5th of the top ten positions for an Ethiopian runner.

Kenya’s 44-year-old Ednah Kiplagat and Ethiopia’s 41-year-old Kenenisa Bekele continued to inspire as they competed against the new generation of runners at the New York City half marathon. Kiplagat finished third in the women’s race in 1:09:46, while Bekele was 7th in the men’s race after running 1:03:59.

Kenya’s Grace Loibach Nawowuna got the Olympics qualifying time after running 30:25 to win the Lille 10K race in France. In California, US, Grant Fisher won the Sound Running The Ten 10,000m event in 26:52.04 in a tight race that saw seven other runners behind him hit the Olympic qualifying times of under 27 minutes.