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| World Home » Sports » | Fri. Nov 21, 2008 |
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World Half Marathon: Kirui of Kenya and Sun Yingjie of Chine won titles MIL, Oct 3, 2004. Sports Correspondent NEW DELHI: Kenya's Paul Kirui capped an impressive year by winning the men's World half-marathon title Sunday, while China's Sun Ying Jie claimed the women's race. Kirui, 24, clocked one hour, 2 minutes and 15 seconds to clinch the men's title as he continued his winning form of the Rome and Berlin half-marathon this season. Finishing 16 seconds behind Kirui was Tanzania's Fabiano Joseph with a time of 1:02.31, ahead of Qatar's Abdullah Ahmad Hassan on 1:02.36 in third. Sun Ying Jie, who won last year's Beijing marathon with the third fastest time ever, clinched the women's title with a time of 1:08.40, leaving second-placed Lydia Cheromei of Kenya 20 seconds behind. Sun, 27, the bronze medalist in the 10,000-meter event at the Paris World championship last year and double gold medalist at the 2002 Busan Asian Games, pulled away from Cheromei in the last quarter. Romania's Constantina Tomascu was third in 1:09.07. "We Kenyans ran as a team and were chatting right through the run, and I found myself best equipped to go for the gold and surged ahead," said Kirui. Kirui said the pleasant weather -- caused by overnight showers that lowered the temperature -- surprised him. He was expecting it to be hotter. Sun's title-winning time in the women's event produced a new Chinese national record. "I'm a bit surprised, and very happy, to come first, as I didn't come here expecting to win," she said.
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