Renju, Jepleting triumph in Prague Half Marathon

Kenya’s Keneth Renju and Nesphine Jepleting are the winners of this year's Prague Half Marathon, a World Athletics Elite Label road race. 

As the race retured for the first time since 2019 on Saturday 2 April, the two secured their maiden half marathon wins of their careers. 

They also led a Kenyan sweep on the podium with Renju running 59:28 for victory ahead of his compatriots Philemon Kiplimo and Mathew Kimeli. 

The result saw Renju go one better than his runner-up finish at the Copenhagen Half Marathon in September, while he finished third in Ras Al Khaimah earlier this year.

"I really liked the race. Even though it was too cold, it was good," said Renju in an interview with World Athletics. "Even though I didn't feel pressure on myself, I wanted to win.

TheThe race was very windy, from the sixth kilometre it was causing problems because there was a headwind. I had to lean into it from the seventh kilometre. I would like to run here again next year because this track is fast. A world record may fall here. Despite the conditions here, it was fast."

Jepleting clocked a PB of 1:06:57 to claim the women's title ahead of her fellow Kenyans Irene Cheptai and Brenda Jepleting. 

After seventh-place finishes in Herzogenaurach and Madrid last year, Jepleting was contesting her third half marathon and made her move in the closing kilometres to claim a 19-second victory ahead of Cheptai.

The 25-year-old, who finished third at the World Athletics Cross Country Tour Gold event in Eldoret in February, was 11 seconds ahead of Cheptai at the 20km point (1:03:29) and extended that advantage by a further eight seconds at the finish.

"I could run faster, but it was too cold and windy," Nesphine told World Athletics. "During the race, I doubted I could win. But the mental strength helped me. In the group we ran until the 12th kilometre, then we accelerated as we wanted."

Cheptai was second in 1:07:16 and Brenda third in 1:08:39. The top five all dipped under 70 minutes, with Ethiopia’s Ftaw Zeray fourth in 1:08:53 and Italy’s Sofiia Yaremchuk fifth in 1:09:09.

Ahead of the race Bahrain Royal International Night half marathon champion Kiplimo and Adizero 'road to records' half marathon winner Brenda were favourites. 

Kiplimo, with the 58:11 he ran in Valencia in 2020, led the list of eight athletes on the entry list to have dipped under the hour for a half marathon, while Brenda was among the six athletes in the women’s field with sub-70-minute PBs.

Additional reporting by World Athletics