Chepngetich, Kandie lead stellar Kenyan field eyeing circuit record in Spain

Elite Kenyan athletes led by former world champion Ruth Chepngetich and Kibiwott Kandie will be seeking to lower the half marathon circuit records at the 2024 Mitja Marató de Barcelona race scheduled for Sunday, February 11.

More than 28000 runners have registered for the half marathon which is the second biggest in the European continent. 

According to race director Mauro Llorens, they expect the circuit records to be shattered this time round.

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“We will be looking for the circuit record, both for men and women. We have a great line-up of international athletes, where we can highlight the presence of the Kenyan athlete, Kibiwott Kandie, who holds the second-best time in the world half-marathon (57:32).

And that of his compatriot, Ruth Chepngetich, world champion in the Doha Marathon 2019 and who has the third-best half-marathon time in the world for women (01:04.02),” explained Llorens.

Kandie’s personal best of 57:32 is only one second slower than the current world record of 57:31 that was set by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo at the 2021 EDP Lisbon Half Marathon.

Besides Kandie, other Kenyan male runners who have been confirmed for the race are Mathew Kimeli, Philemon Kiplimo and Hillary Kipkoech.

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Kimeli and Kiplimo have personal best times of 58:43 and 58:11 respectively while Kipkoech clocked 59:22 in the fastest half marathon he has ever run in his career.

Chepngetich, on the other hand, travels to the Catalan city of Barcelona with several marathon titles under her belt.

Some of the coveted accolades that the 29-year-old boasts of include two Chicago Marathon titles and a Standard-Chartered Dubai Marathon laurel.

The Kenya Prisons athlete has also registered victories in the past at the 2019 Istanbul Half Marathon, and 2023 Nagoya Women’s marathon.

Chepngetich is expected to gather at the starting point with the likes of compatriots Joyciline Jepkosgei and Gladys Chepkurui.

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Ethiopia’s Senbere Teferi will also be in contention. Teferi is a one-time RAK half Marathon and Media Maratón Valencia Trinidad Alfonso EDP champion. She set her half marathon personal best of 1:05.32 in Valencia in 2019. 

Some of 2024 Mitja Marató de Barcelona elite entries

Male Category

Kibiwott Kandie - Kenya

Hillary Kipkoech - Kenya

Philemon Kiplimo - Kenya

Mathew Kimeli - Kenya

Gerald Gabriel Geay - Tanzania

Peter Mwaniki - Kenya

Andreas Almgren - Sweden

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Female Category

Ruth Chepngetich - Kenya

Joyciline Jepkosgei - Kenya

Senbere Teferi - Ethiopia

Gladys Chepkurui - Kenya

Jessica Warne-Judd - England