Nageeye breaks national record in Rotterdam Marathon victory as Kiptum is honored

Dutch runner Adbi Nageeye, the reigning Olympic silver medallist, won the Rotterdam marathon on Sunday, bettering his own national record by 11 seconds.

The Somalia-born Nageeye clocked 2hr 04.45min, finishing five seconds ahead of Ethiopian Amedework Walelegn, with Birhanu Legese, also of Ethiopia, rounding out the podium.

There was a victory in the women's race for Ethiopia's Ashete Bekere, whose winning time of 2:19.30 was enough to see her finish ahead of the Kenyan pair of Viola Kibiwot and Selly Chepyego Kaptich.

Kiptum honored

Prior to the race, a minute of silence was held in honour of world record-holder Kelvin Kiptum, who died in February.

Kiptum had been due to run in Rotterdam, where he was hoping to become the first man to break two hours for the marathon on a record-eligible course.

Bib number 1, which had been assigned to Kiptum, was not used on Sunday, and many athletes wore black ribbons in his memory.

In addition, his wife - Asenath Rotich - was present, and was presented a special trophy courtesy of Zepp Health, the company behind the AmazFit Cheetah Pro watch.

The watch, christened the Kelvin Kiptum Commemorative Limited Edition, was unveiled ahead of the race.

Men's race recap

The leading trio formed part of a group that followed the pacemakers through 10km in 29:06 before 15km was reached in 43:48.

A pack of nine athletes forged ahead and reached 20km in 58:31.

The group was then seven strong as they got past 30km in 1:28:09.

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At 35km, reached in 1:42:54, four athletes remained in contention to battle for the three podium places – Nageeye, Walelegn and Legese joined by Kenya’s Kenneth Kipkemoi.

But Kipkemoi was unable to maintain the pace and he dropped back as the leading trio clocked 1:58:12 for 40km.

From that point, Walelegn and Nageeye dropped two-time Tokyo Marathon winner Legese, with Nageeye tracking Walelegn.

Nageeye looked to be waiting for the perfect moment to make a final move and as he kicked, Walelegn could not respond – Nageeye claiming a clear victory in 2:04:45.

Women's race recap

In the women’s race, 2019 Berlin Marathon winner Bekere was joined by her compatriot Sisay Meseret Gola and Kenya’s duo of Chepyego and Kibiwot as 10km was reached in 32:42.

They remained on course record pace as they passed 15km in 48:48, 20km in 1:05:11 and 25km in 1:21:23, with Bekere a stride ahead of her rivals.

Bekere forged ahead and she had created an eight-second advantage by 30km, passing that point in 1:37:48.

Maintaining that momentum, she reached 35km in 1:54:25.

While she slowed in the latter stages of the race, passing 40km in 2:11:52, she had done more than enough to hold on to victory, winning unchallenged in 2:19:30 ahead of Kibiwot (2:20:57) and Chepyego (2:22:46).

Additional reporting by World Athletics.