The Ethiopian Tamirat Tola, current Marathon world champion (Oregon 2022), with a personal best of 2:03:39, was perhaps the great favorite to win in Valencia, but Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum gave a surprise and not only won the Trinidad Alfonso Valencia Marathonbut rather improved the test record by entering the finish line with a stratospheric time of 2:01:53, well below the 2:03:00 of Evans Chebet in the 2020 Elite Edition marked by the absence of popular riders for the pandemic.
Up to fifteen runners shared the head of the race at kilometer 23, along with the three hares, but the men’s event broke at km 29 with the pull of Tola along with two other athletes, Kenyan debutant Kelvin Kiptum and Tanzanian Gabriel Geaywho broke away to cross km 30 at 8 seconds below the test record (1h27.34).
At only 23 years old and with the experience of having run the last two Valencia half marathons, in 58:42 in 2020 and 59:02 in 2021, Kiptum soon found himself alone at the head of the racewith people carrying him on the wings in the last kilometers.
And not only did he achieve the test record, but with an unofficial time of 2:01:53, achieved the third best mark in history in the marathon. Only two legends like Bekele and Kipchoge have run below their time. A historical record for Valencia.
