Nairobi — Titus Kipruto finished second at Sunday’s Amsterdam Marathon, which was hugely dominated by Ethiopian athletes, in both the men and women’s fields.
Kipruto clocked 2:04:54 to finish second behind Ethiopia’s Tsegaye Getachew who clocked 2:04:49.
Meanwhile, Ethiopia’s 2016 Olympic Gold medalist Almaz Ayana led an Ethiopian podium sweep as she ripped the Course Record on her debut, winning in 2:17:20. Ayana’s finishing time was the fastest marathon debut ever.
Genzebe Dibaba, the 1500m World Record holder on track was second also on her marathon debut, clocking 2:18:05.
Tsehay Gemechu, also on her debut, completed the Ethiopian sweep after clocking 2:18:59.
Celestine Chepchirchir was the only Kenyan in the top 10 as she finished seventh in 2:26:50.
In the men’s race, the top 10 slots were evenly split between Kenyans and Ethiopians. Abraham Kiptoo finished fourth (2:05:04), Cyprian Kotut sixth (2:05:15), Laban Korir eighth (2:05:41) and Josephat Boit 10th (2:06:34).
There was a close knit group of almost 15 athletes in the first 25km, going through in 1:13:21, with no one confident enough to make a move, but they remained within 28 seconds of the course record.
They went through 10k in 29:11, 20k in 58:41 and they were on the half marathon mark in 1:01:53.
It was not until the 38km mark, when the field split with the leading athletes Getachew, Kipruto, Bezazew Asmare, Korir, Kigen and Kotut breaking away, with Asmare being the first to inject some pace.
When the pack whittled down to four with 2km left, Getachew made his move and no one could respond. Kipruto struck a painful grin on his face as he tried to keep pace and when it was evident he couldn’t battle for first, he did just but enough to secure second with Asmare finishing third.
