Carlos Mayo and Laura Luengo made history in the Valencia Half Marathon

The athletes Carlos Mayo and Laura Luengo broke the Spanish distance record in the 32nd edition of the Valencia Half Marathonin a race with 22,000 participants, and they also achieved the minimum to participate in the next European Championship in Rome.

The Aragonese athlete has already announced his intention to lose the historic Spanish record since April 1, 2001 is in the possession of Fabián Roncero (59:52) and for this he had the new Adidas Adizero Pro Evo 1 shoes, weighing only 138 grams, with which the Ethiopian Tigist Assefa entered marathon history after breaking the world record at the Berlin Marathon just a month ago.

From the first part of 5 kilometers, May has already achieved a time less than the national record that put him on the right path.

“I looked at the partials every five kilometers to position myself with respect to the mark and saw that I was going fast but I felt that my legs were swollen and I knew it was impossible to maintain this pace, but I saw that if I slowed down a little and saved my strength for the last five kilometers I would have legs,” he explained.

Mayo reached the last meters he knew he could, with tears in his eyes and looking for a look of complicity from his team. at the finish line to set the record at a time of 59:39 minutes, reducing the previous record by 13 seconds. “I was able to enjoy it in the end and it was crazy and I dedicate it to all the people who believed in me and those who didn’t because that has also motivated me,” he said.

For his part, Luengo, despite announcing that he did not feel as well as he wanted to face the race, increased his speed and in the last kilometers he showed himself in his fight against time and achieved a new national record with a time of 1:09:41, which reduced ten seconds from the record held by Trihas Hebre from 2018.

“I’m super happy, she said, despite not feeling very well to fight for the record. and by kilometer 14 and I started working to try to reduce the seconds and in the end I achieved it,” said the woman from Extremadura after crossing the finish line.

“I hope to try to do the minimum for the European Championship and if I feel good I will try for the Spanish record. I couldn’t believe it, I was thinking about it when I was getting splits of 3:15 and I said to myself ‘trust me you can do it’ and with 100 meters left I knew I had it and it was incredible ,” he emphasized.

In the female category, after Luengo, the best times were for Esther Navarrete (1:09:58) and Marta Galimany (1:10:45); while among the men, behind Mayo, Hamid Ben Daoud (1:00:41) and Jorge Blanco (1:02:02) entered the finish line.

Kenyan athletes Kibiwot Kandie and Margaret Chelimo won the testin a race with 22,000 participants.

Kandie, who took her third win in Valencia, defended the title she won last year, although he was unable to achieve the goal of breaking the world recorddespite the fact that in the early stages of the race he was at the expected time of achieving it.

Perhaps the short distance that the ‘hares’ hurt the Kenyanwho once passed the first five kilometers decided to take control of the race and made an extra effort that deprived him not of victory but of the world record, where he was 9 seconds away.

The strong pace set by Kandie can only be matched by Ethiopians Hagos Gebrhiwet, Yomif Kejelcha and Selemon Baregato form a quartet that will lead the race to the finish line.

By mid-race, the projection was one second below the world record, but Kandie found no support to relieve him of his head and saw how his single effort was not enough to challenge the record.

The four runners reached the last kilometer with their thoughts and only in victory. Kejecha was the first to set a faster pace, passing Barega, and with 400 meters to go it was Kandie who surprised the two Ethiopians with a powerful attack that allowed him to gain enough of an advantage to get the victory with a time of 57:40 minutes. .

A second behind, Kejelcha and Gebrhiwet completed the podiumwhile ten seconds later Selemon crossed the finish line, leaving the top four with times under 58 minutes.

To womenthe expectation is somewhat lower, because there is no attempt to attack the world record but A great race can be enjoyed, with Kenyans Margaret Chelimo, Irine Cheptai and Janet Chepngetich They crossed kilometer 15 together in search of victory.

Chelimo’s faster pace late in the race left Chepngetich with no options and only Irine Cheptai managed a few more meters than her compatriot who in the last kilometer took a comfortable lead to secure the win by stopping the clock in 1:04:46, followed by Cheptai in 7 seconds and third Chepngetich in 29 seconds.