Sebastian Kimaru stuns Kwizera for 10km Bengaluru title

Kenya’s Sebastian Kimaru dipped under 28 minutes in the highly-competitive Bengaluru 10km race held on Sunday 21 May to emerge victorious in 27:59 minutes.

In a close three-way finish Kimaru defeated road running guru Rodrigue Kwizera who also timed 27:59 with Hillary Chepkwoni completing the podium places in 28:00 minutes.

Heading to the race, it was touted as a battle between course record holder and defending champion Nicholas Kimeli who won last year’s race in 27:38 minutes.

Kimeli had come close to his Personal Best (PB) last month in Herzogenaurach, where he finished third in 26:54. Earlier in the year, he finished 13th at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships Bathurst 23, as Kimaru placed seventh.

The eventual winner, Kimaru, however, headed to Bengaluru in better form, having beaten Kimeli in two clashes earlier this year at the World Cross-Country and then won over 10km in Herzogenaurach in a PB of 26:49.

Burundi’s Kwizera, one of the winners of the World Athletics Cross Country Tour, is the third athlete in the field with a sub-27-minute PB. The 23-year-old finished just behind Kimaru at the World Cross, and more recently he had won over 10km in Camargo.

In the women’s race, Kenya’s Irene Cheptai, the 2017 world cross-country champion, and the defending champion having won the race last year in a course record 30:35 minutes was amongst the favourtes but did not live up to expectations.

Cheptai enjoyed one of her best seasons to date last year. She took silver over 10,000m at the Commonwealth Games, then went on to win over 10km in Prague (30:16) and at the New Delhi Half Marathon (1:06:42), setting PBs on both occasions.

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However, it was Tokyo Marathon (2:16.56) silver medalist and eighth fastest woman on the world all-time list Ethiopia’s Tsehay Gemechu who triumphed in the streets of India in 31:38 minutes as compatriots Fotyen Tesfaye (31:42) and 2019 world cross-country silver medalist, who won the Dubai Marathon earlier this year in a PB of 2:21:11 Dera Dida (31:45) completed the podium places.

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