Kwemoi facing herculean task in Istanbul title defense

Istanbul half marathon course record holder Rodgers Kwemoi returns to the Turkish race on 30 April looking to defend the title he won last year in course record time.

Kwemoi is not only the course record holder but also, the fastest athlete on the start list.

The 25-year-old ran 58:30 when he was runner-up in RAK last year. After that race he broke the Istanbul course record by 20 seconds with 59:15 despite windy conditions.

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He will compete in Turkey’s best quality elite road race for the second time after he improved the course record to 59:15 last year.

“My next goal in the half marathon is a time of 58:00,” said Kwemoi after this impressive win. He has had no opportunity yet to reach that goal, so the N Kolay Istanbul Half Marathon could be the place for him to chase such a world-class time.

Among his rivals will be Amedework Walelegn who, has good memories of the N Kolay Istanbul Half Marathon as well. The Ethiopian was the winner in 2018 and at that time became the first runner to break the one-hour barrier at the Bosphorus with a time of 59:50.

Since then he has improved this PB to 58:40. The 24-year-old was in great form recently, when he first took the Sevilla Half Marathon with 60:28 and then won the Seoul Marathon in 2:05:27.

Recent road race results from Kenyans Charles Langat and Daniel Ebenyo have been impressive as well and suggest that they could be in contention for victory in Istanbul as well.

Langat won the Barcelona Half Marathon in February with 58:53 and Ebenyo, who has a very fast 10k PB of 26:58, was runner-up in the Manama Half Marathon in Bahrain in December with 59:04.

Britain’s Marc Scott is the fastest European runner on the start list. The 3,000 m bronze medalist from the World Indoor Championships 2022 ran 60:39 in Larne (Northern Ireland) three years ago for a runner-up spot behind Mo Farah.