Kenyan Leonard Barsoton and Ethiopian Guteni Shone ran fast to win the elite men and women’s titles respectively with new event records on an altered course in the $100,000 Tata Steel Kolkata 25K here on Sunday.
Barsoton, who gave his confirmation only two weeks ago, ran with a lot of determination to leave others behind with four km to go. He pumped his fist before crossing the line with a time of 1:13:05.
“Am excited to have broken the (event) record (1:13:48) of the great Kenenisa Bekele on first attempt,” said Barsoton, who returned a superb 59:09 at the Valencia half-marathon earlier this year.
Ethiopian duo Betesfa Getahun (1:13:33) and Bayelign Yegsaw (1:13:36) came second and third respectively following a close fight.
Guteni also produced a sensational performance of 1:22:09 to better Degetu Azimeraw's record of 1:26:01 by around an unprecedented four minutes. She was followed by the Bahrain pair of Desi Jisa (1:23:32) and Tejity Daba (1:24:32).
The new course, with less number of bends, helped five women and four men run under previous event records.
Srinu Bugatha clocked 1:18:31 to beat Tirtha Pun by eight seconds and emerge as the best Indian male runner.
The women's race witnessed a dramatic turnaround in fortune as Bengal girl Shyamali Singh, who led for a considerable period, took a break after vomiting.
It allowed Kiranjeet Kaur, who spent almost 21 hours in transit from Delhi to Kolkata due to a flight delay by Air India, to win with 1:38:56.
Shyamali gave a fight till the end but eventually settled for the second place with 1:39:02. The elite winners got $7,500 each. Each of the Indian winners got Rs 2.75 lakh.
The results:
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