Kenya’s Hillary Maiyo will return to defend his title defend his title at the 5th edition of the Minsk Half Marathon that will be held on Sunday (9) Minsk, Belarus.
The 24 year-old set the course record of 1:03.00 on his first appearance in Minsk and came close to it last year with 1:03.18. But he may need to run faster than he ever has done before if he is to win a third successive title and hold on to his course record.
Ethiopia’s Abebe Negewo Degefa also comes to this race with a personal best of 1:00.40 that he got at the Usti Nad Labem in 2013.this year he has a season best of 1:02.39, he got when he finished second in Suwon.
Another Kenyan on the startlist is Joel Mwangi Maina an also an accomplished half marathon runner. He finished fourth in Milan earlier this year in 1:01.33, just 17 seconds shy of the PB he set back in 2014.
Bernard Korir has also shown promising form ahead of this weekend’s race. The Kenyan clocked 1:02.07 in Doha earlier this year to miss out on his PB by just eight seconds.
With a best of 1:00:29, Ethiopia’s Feyera Gemeda owns the fastest PB of the field, but he has raced sparingly in recent years and his last half marathon was a 1:03:51 clocking in 2016.
Other title contenders include Morocco’s Tahir Belkorchi, Ukrainian duo Mykola Yukhymchuk and Dmytro Lashyn..
LEADING TIME
MEN
- Feyera Gemeda (ETH) 1:00.29
- Abebe Negewo Degefa (ETH) 1:00.40
- Joel Maina Mwangi (KEN) 1:01.16
- Hillary Kiptum Maiyo (KEN) 1:01.41
- Bernard Korir (KEN) 1:01.59
- Tahir Belkorchi (MAR) 1:02.22
- Mykola Yukhymchuk (UKR) 1:02.28
- Dmytro Lashyn (UKR) 1:02.52
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