Nairobi — World file holder for the ladies’s marathon, Ruth Chepng’etich, and her compatriot for the ladies’s 10km, Agnes Ngetich have been nominated for World Athletics’ Out of Stadium Feminine Athlete of the Yr award.
The 2 will battle out with three different athletes who’re equally deserving of the award in their very own proper: Olympic marathon champion Sifan Hassan; and Ethiopian pair of Tigist Ketema and Sutume Kebede.
An award for Chepng’etich would be the excellent icing on the cake after she clocked a world file of two:09:56 to win the Chicago Marathon for the third time.
The 2019 World marathon champion, consequently, made historical past as the primary feminine runner to clock a sub-2:10 within the 42km.
Equally desirous to crown a profitable yr with the award is Ngetich who started 2024 with a bang.
The 23-year-old clocked a world file of 28:46 on the Valencia Ibercaja 10km highway race in January.
She basically etched her title in file books by changing into the primary to ever run that distance underneath 29 minutes.
That feat got here lower than 4 months after she had clocked a women-only world file of 29:24 on the Trunsylvania 10km race in Romania.
Ngetich’s newest achievement is victory on the Valencia Half Marathon on Sunday the place she clocked 1:03:04 to win the ladies’s race, forward of Ethiopia’s Fotyen Tesfay (1:03:21) and one other Kenyan, Lilian Kasait (1:03:32), in second and third respectively.
Sifan the superwoman
However the wealthy resume of the Kenyan duo, it might be foolhardy to dismiss the achievements of the opposite nominees.
Dutchwoman Hassan has been the epitome of bravery and consistency as exhibited at this yr’s Paris Olympics the place she competed in three occasions – 5000m, 10,000m and girls’s marathon.
Having received bronze within the first two races, Hassan saved the very best for final when she overtook then world file holder Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia within the final 100 metres to win gold within the ladies’s marathon.
This was spectacular for a 30-year-old who had made her 42km debut a yr earlier on the London Marathon, occurring to win in 2:18:33.
She then broke the course file for the Chicago Marathon, clocking 2:13:44 on her method to victory.
From queenmaker to queen?
Then again, Ketema, has blossomed from a pacemaker — to Kenya’s Religion Kipyegon — into one to look at within the ladies’s marathon in years to return.
The 26-year-old clocked 2:16:07 to win the Dubai Marathon in January, which was the quickest time ever by a marathon debutant.
She adopted it up with victory on the Berlin Marathon, stopping the timer at 2:16:42.
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It could appear the 2017 Africa Beneath 20 champion realized a factor or two from pacemaking for Kipyegon when the triple Olympic champion broke the world file for the ladies’s 5000m on the Paris Diamond League in June final yr.
Her compatriot, Kebede, has additionally been steadily rising as one of many formidable highway runners to look at.
She ran 1:04:37 to win the Houston Half Marathon in January – the second quickest time for the 21km on American soil – earlier than clinching the Tokyo Marathon in March.
Voting on social media is ongoing till November 3 with announcement of the winners set for December 1 at an awards gala in Monaco.
