Kenyan-born Bahraini, Marius Kimutai smashed the course record at the 45th edition of the Barcelona Marathon, held on Sunday (19) in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
The 30 year-old who came to this race with a life time best of 2:05.47 which was the fastest time on paper, took on another Kenyan born now trading for Turkey Kaan Kigen Özbilen and Moroccan Othmane El Goumri as they went through the 30km in 1:29.18.
Kimutai remained in the lead group of five that included Moroccan Goumri, Eritrea’s Kibrom Ruesom and Kenya’s Joel Kimurer as they passed the 36km mark but things changed as they approached the 31k mark with Ozbilen taking charge of the race followed by Goumri as Kimutai played waited patiently behind the two for the right time to pounce.
Kimutai who had the knowledge of this course as he was here in 2016 where he finished in sixth, produced a well calculated kick to get past the two as he surged alone to erase the old course record of 2:05.53 that was set last year by Ethiopia’s Yihunilign Adane with a new course record time of 2:05.06, which is also his personal best.
El Goumri came home in second place with a new National Record time of 2:05.12 with Ozbilen closing the podium three finishes in 2:05.37. The top three runners all went under the old course.
Ruesom and Kimurer finished in fourth and fifth place in a time of 2:05.51 and 2:06.32 respectively.
LEADING RESULTS
42KM MEN
- Marius Kimutai (BHN) 2:05:06
- Othmane El Goumri (MOR) 2:05.12
- Ozbilen Kigen (TUR) 2:05.37
- Kibrom Ruesom (ERT) 2:05.51
- Joel Kimurer (KEN) 2:06.32
Facebook Comments