Matata, Chebet chasing back-to-back Istanbul Half titles
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Reading Time: 4min | Sat. 21.03.26. | 14:00
The race will feature Kenyan twins in both the men's and women's races with Alex bringing along Charles as a pacemaker while Caroline and Purity Gitonga compete for podium finishes against a formidable field
After victories in last year's Türkiye Is Bankasi Istanbul Half Marathon, Kenyans Alex Matata and Miriam Chebet are back on the streets of the historic peninsula, ready to defend their titles.
The race, set for Sunday, 19 March will see Matata, fresh from winning the Meishan Renshou Half Marathon on 15 March in 59:51 headline the men's field with a personal best (PB) of 59:20.
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However, for fellow Kenyan Chebet, the task ahead will be tougher as not only will she be racing her first half marathon this year, but her 1:06:07 PB set while winning here last year, makes her the third quickest entrant in this year's field.
Ethiopia’s Ftaw Zeray, who recently improved to 1:05:12 when she dominated the Paris Half Marathon, is the fastest woman entered.
In the men's race, Matata has established himself as a leading half marathon runner with a striking consistency, having competed in a dozen half marathons in the past two years, winning 10.
The 28-year-old took three of the highest quality events at this distance in 2025, first at the January-held Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) Half with a PB of 59:20, before clocking 59:40 in Istanbul despite windy conditions and later in the year he took the New Delhi race in 59:50.
Coming back to Istanbul, Matata will be eager to build on this extraordinary series. The Kenyan will bring his twin brother to Türkiye; Charles Matata, who is entered as a pacemaker but he may opt to finish the race. So far he has a PB of 60:05.
Fellow-Kenyan Solomon Yego is the second fastest runner on the current elite start list. Ten years older than Matata, he carries a 58:44 PB from when he won the Rome Ostia race in 2016, smashing the then course record. Since it is a point to point course and slightly downhill, results from Ostia are not record eligible and do not appear in the official lists. But it takes nothing away from his great performance ten years ago.
More recently Yego ran 60:57 to win the Shanghai Half Marathon on 15 March.
Giving the Kenyans a run for their money will be Shura Kitata, an athlete who has enjoyed great success in the marathon. The 29 year-old Ethiopian won the London Marathon in 2020 and very recently produced a fine PB of 2:03:59 when he took the Seville Marathon last month.
This performance suggests that he could run a strong half marathon and may even be able to challenge for victory in Istanbul. Kitata’s official PB stands at 59:47 from Aramco Houston six years ago. In 2018 he won the Philadelphia Half Marathon with 59:16, but the course was uncertified so that the result is not officially listed.
Ali Kaya, the former Turkish record holder, who clocked 60:16 in Istanbul ten years ago, is the leading European athlete on the current start list. The 31 year-old was tenth here last year.
Elsewhere, Chebet will surely look forward to returning to the Türkiye Is Bankasi Istanbul Half Marathon. It was in this race a year ago where she achieved her biggest career victory so far and clocked her PB. Later in 2025 Chebet also won the Cardiff Half Marathon with 1:06:36 and this year she has already shown fine form again. In January the 23-year-old improved her PB at 10k to 30:08 in Valencia.
Defending her crown will however not come easy as Ethiopian duo of Zeray and Asmarech Anley travel to Türkiye with confidence after very strong performances in the past two months. 28 year-old Zeray is in excellent form. She was third in the Dubai Half Marathon in February with 1:07:01 and then ran to victory in Paris this month with a 1:05:12 course record which is also a PB.
Zeray has focused very much on this distance and achieved an impressive series of top times. In the past 24 months she has run under 68 minutes nine times. And in three of these races she ran sub 67. Additionally the Ethiopian was sixth at the 2023 World Half Marathon Championships in Riga.
A newcomer in the half marathon, Anley, is also expected to compete at the very front of the field. She ran a great debut little over a month ago, winning the competitive RAK Half Marathon in 1:07:22 without pacemakers.
Kenya’s Evaline Chirchir achieved a very similar time when she was third in Houston in January. She has a PB of 1:06:01 which makes her the second fastest behind Zeray on the current start list.
Caroline and Purity Gitonga of Kenya must be the world’s fastest twin sisters in the half marathon. Caroline has a PB of 1:06:26 while Purity’s personal record stands at 1:07:31. But on the only occasion when they competed together in an international half marathon in Udine three years ago, Purity was ahead and won the race while Caroline finished runner-up.
They would have to produce something special to achieve another one-two-finish when they run the Türkiye Is Bankasi Istanbul Half Marathon.