Jepkosgei and Dibaba to face off in Delhi 21km race

Kenya's Joyceline Jepkosgei during 2017 Prague Half Marathon. Reuters]

She has grabbed international attention in an emphatic way on several occasions

Jepkosgei and Dibaba to face off in Delhi 21km race

The 21km world record holder has battled the Ethiopian Olympic champ twice.

Kenya’s world half marathon record holder Joyciline Jepkosgei has been added to the women’s elite field for the 2018 Airtel Delhi Half Marathon on Sunday.

It brings about the mouth-watering prospect of a thrilling head-to-head contest with three-time Olympic gold medallist Tirunesh Dibaba.

The pair have met twice before. Firstly, at last year’s Ras al Khaimah Hal Marathon when Jepkosgei finished third and the Ethiopian legend was fifth. In May this year, the two runners face each again at the Manchester 10km in Great Britain with Ethiopian getting the better of her rival while the Kenyan settling for the second place.

However, Jepkosgei heads to Delhi in fine form buoyed by her victory at Family Bank Half Marathon in Eldoret, high-altitude race earlier this month.

“The Delhi Half Marathon is my first trip to India and so I am looking forward to visiting and also competing against, once again, Dibaba as well as the rest of the field of accomplished athletes,” said the 24-year-old Jepkosgei, who is coached by husband Nicholas Koech.

Jepkosgei grabbed international attention in an emphatic way on several occasions during 2017.

Sandwiched between these two record-breaking half marathon outings, Jepkosgei became the first woman to run under 30 minutes for 10km on the roads when she ran a world record of 29:43 on her return to the Czech capital Prague in September 2017.

This year has seen Jepkosgei compete in her first global championship and she returned to Valencia almost five months after her world record in the same city and placed second at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in March.

Curiously, after her stunning successes of 2017 and despite running a series of fast times in the last nine months, Jepkosgei is still looking for her first international win of 2018 and that will provide her with extra motivation in Delhi. She set a world half marathon best of 64:52 in Prague in April last year and improved that mark by one second to 64:51 in the Spanish city of Valencia 12 months ago.