New Delhi [India], October 12 : After his victory in the Delhi Half Marathon elite India men's competition, Indian athlete Abhishek Pal expressed dissatisfaction with his timing and expressed hope of representing the tricolour during next year's Asian Games in Japan.
The Indian Elite contest showcased experience and emerging talent as, Abhishek and Seema claimed top honours to take home the cash prize of INR 4,00,000 each. Pal took victory in the men's race, clocking 1:04:17, while Seema dominated the women's field with a time of 1:11:23 to win comfortably. The victory marked Abhishek's third victory at the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon, while Seema impressed on her debut, making an immediate impact on one of the World's most prestigious half marathons.
Speaking to ANI, Abhishek said, "When I came at the time of launching of the event, people asked me how do you feel, now I just want to say it was an exciting race, we gave tough fight to each other...I am not satisfied with my timing. Gulvir (Singh) was also supposed to participate, but he could not because of a problem. I had played an Open National just 10 days back, so there was not much recovery time for my body. But the competition went okay as per my training and planning."
"My coach is my brother Rahul Kumar Pal, who guided me; all the credit goes to him...I am preparing for the Asian games, hoping to represent India at the global level," he added.
Seema, the elite winner in the women's category, said that she wanted to break the national record and missed it due to "lactic build-up" in her body.
"I had my personal best time during the competition. I wish I could break the national record too, but I missed it by a few seconds as there was some lactic buildup (in her body). I would try doing so in the next marathon. My main targets are the Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games (next year). Any games we participate in boost our confidence and give us motivation," she said.
Olympian Avinash Sable holds the Indian half-marathon record with a 1:00:30-second run to win the Indian men's elite race at the Delhi Half Marathon 2020. The Indian women's half-marathon record is owned by Suriya Loganathan, who ran a 1:10:31 race at the 2017 Delhi Half Marathon, as per Olympics.com.
In the international elite competition, experienced Kenyan runners Alex Nzioka Matata and Lilian Kasait Rengeruk applied different strategies to register notable Kenyan wins in the World Athletics Gold Label Road Race here on Sunday.
It was only the second time in the event's history that Kenyan runners won both men's and women's titles in the same edition. Francis Kibiwott and Lineth Chepkurui were the first ones to achieve such honours in 2006, according to a press release from the Delhi Half Marathon.
Matata, a runner-up last year behind Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei, broke away from other runners to run a solo race. Having won the RAK half-marathon earlier this year with a personal best 59:20, the Kenyan already had seven sub-60 minutes timings to his credit, including 59:53 from Delhi in 2024. However, there was no one to push him for the course record (58:53) as the rest of the men's field were more than 60 metres behind him during the second half of the race.
Matata, along with his teammate Reuben Rono, crossed the first 10K in 28:43, with six other runners running along with them a shade away. The Kenyan ran a fast second half of the race, breaking away from the others. He went on to take the men's crown in 59:50, to mark his fifth half-marathon win this year. Ethiopia's Bayelign Teshager finished second (60:22) while Kenyan James Kipkogei took the third spot in 60:25. Pre-race favourite Birhanu Legese finished fourth (60:54).
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