Fast Starting Komon Prevails in Berlin

Published by the IAAF on March 30, 2014

Leonard Komon said he wanted to attack the world half-marathon record on his debut at the distance at the 34th edition of the Vattenfall Berlin Half-Marathon but while he eventually fell short of the record, the Kenyan kept true to his word on Sunday (30).

Komon, the holder of the world 10km and 15km records, was some way under world record pace in the opening stages. He passed through 10km along with three of his team-mates in an aggressive 27:40, which was 13 seconds faster than Zersenay Tadese's corresponding split when he set the record of 58:23 in 2010.

The pace began to slack slightly after an ambitious first half, and Komon's race turned out to be against his training partner Abraham Cheroben, rather than one against the clock. The 21-year-old, who had never cracked the one-hour mark for the distance, bravely clung onto Komon's coat-tails through 15km in 41:44 and 20km in 56:05.

Very little separated the leading duo in the closing stages but Komon's greater international experience and superior track pace proved the narrow factor, as he came through to claim a winning half-marathon debut in 59:14 while Cheroben, whose previous lifetime best stood at 60:38, broke new ground with an identical time to the winner.

"I am happy with my performance in my debut race. Of course I ran longer distances in training, but there is always a difference between training and competition. I thought I would be able to run sub-59 minutes,” said Komon, who plans to move up to the marathon in the future.