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Four Men Under 60 Minutes to Challenge Usti nad Labem Half Marathon

Barselius Kipyego (59:30), Aziz Lahbabi (59:25), Adugna Takele (59:40) and Geoffrey Kusuro (59:43) will toe the line at the Usti nad Labem Half Marathon on September 17. All four men have dipped under the one hour barrier for 13.1 miles, led by Kipyego and Takele's personal bests set at the Prague Sportisimo Half Marathon where they finished runner-up and third, respectively.

This will be Kipyego's fourth half marathon of 2016. He most recently won the Mattoni Ceske Budejovice race on June 4 in 1:00:30, which stood as one of the fastest course times in four years.

His greatest challenger will likely be Ethiopian Takele. Besides eclipsing the 60 minute barrier on April 2, Takele possesses the best speed in the field, having just finished fifth in the Ethiopian Olympic Trials 10,000m race in 27:20, less than one second off his PB. He won this race in 60:45 in 2014.

The course record of 1:00:38 is certainly in heightened danger when you add Lahbabi, who ran 59:25 in 2014, and Kusuro, whose 59:43 PB was set in 2015. Kenyans Peter Kwemoi (1:00:13) and Emanuel Kipsang (1:00:14) will look to run their first sub 60 minute half. 

Kipsang could be a sleeper pick to win. The 25-year-old ran 27:22 on the track this spring and represented Kenya at the 2015 World Championships in the 5000m. He is relatively new to the longer distance, as Usti nad Labem will be his third go, but that could make him all the more dangerous in challenging for the win.

Watch Emanuel Kipsang run 27:22 at the adidas BOOST Athletics Meeting:


Milan Kocourek (1:04:23), Jiri Homolac (1:03:50) and Jan Kreisinger (1:03:38) will fight for Czech bragging rights as the top local entrants. 

Half Marathon World Champion Leads Women's Field

Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir won the World Half Marathon Championships on March 26 and will look to defend her Usti nad Labem title, a feat where she set the course record of 1:07.17 in 2015. Jehpchirchir's 1:06.39 personal best, set in February of 2016, is three minutes faster than the next entrant. 

Jepchirchir has been undefeated since claiming her first World title in Cardiff. She won the Yangzhou Half Marathon in 1:07:21 in April, followed by two 10K victories in Bengaluru and Ottawa in May. There is a talent group assembled to challenge Jepchirchir, but after smashing the course record and winning by three minutes in 2015, she enters the field the clear favorite.

The Ethiopian duo of Muliye Dekebo (1:09:45) and Aberu Mukuria (1:12:29 split en route to 2:25 marathon) should be in the mix, as well as Misato Horie of Japan (1:10:26), Ashete Bekele of Ethiopia (1:10:36) and Emmaculate Jebet of Kenya (1:10:39). 

Dekebo is the fastest U20 athlete in the world in 2016 with her 1:11:08 victory in Nice, according to Tilastopaja. Her 1:09:45, though not listed on the stats site, came from her half marathon victory in Lugano, Switzerland on May 23 this spring.

Mukuria ran 2:25 for the full marathon twice in 2015 and most recently finished runner-up in Ottawa in 2:29. Her 1:12 half marathon best comes from a split, so a new personal best should be achieved in the race.

Horie was fourth in this race in 2014 and achieved a new marathon PB in July when she won the Gold Coast Marathon in 2:26:40. After finishing 14th in the Sportisimo Prague Half Marathon, Horie returns to Run Czech to try and crack the top three.

Bekenne won the Ceseke Budejovice race in June in 1:10:40, just four seconds off her PB. She'll carry that momentum into this race, while Jebet brings her 1:10:39 PB set in March, a four minute improvement from 2015, to the field.