Fast Half-Marathon Finishes at Philadelphia
Meseret Defar of Ethiopia wins at Philadelphia.
In case you hadn’t heard, the fastest half-marathon time run by a woman on American soil was run by Ethiopian (Surprise!) Meseret Defar at this weekend’s Philadelphia Half-Marathon. Her time was 1:07:44.
Everyone was watching this race to see if Ryan Hall or Shalane Flanagan had enough mojo to win. They did not. Hall finished 13th and Flanagan was 4th woman.
There is much speculation as to whether Hall’s time means anything as he is deep into preparation for next month’s Chicago Marathon. We’ll just have to wait and see.
No one was watching Matthew Kisorio of Kenya, until he was winning with a time of 1:00:15, breaking Khalid Khannouchi’s 13-year-old course record of 1:00:27.
This was only Kisorio’s second half-marathon. It seems likely he has room to improve.
Read more at the Philadelphia Half Marathon website.