Hellen Obiri flies to victory at Istanbul Half Marathon
By Devon Kotze
Hellen Obiri flies to victory at Istanbul Half Marathon
The On athlete’s winning time of 1:04:48 was the 10th-fastest women’s half-marathon ever.
The Istanbul Half Marathon is famous for fast times and, despite tough conditions, the 2022 edition didn’t disappoint.
With her time of 1:04:48, On athlete Hellen Obiri ran the 10th-fastest women’s half-marathon ever to win the event. And were it not for strong winds, that time would likely have been even more impressive.
“I felt good going into the race,” Hellen said, “I had a few more weeks training since my last race at RAK [the Ras Al Khaimah half-marathon] and was hoping I could improve my personal best and get under 64 mins.
“I wanted to go for it and try to run a fast time. During the race, I felt good and didn’t realize it was quite as fast as it was at 5K and 10K.
"I think I set a road PB at 5k and was one second outside my 10K PB.
“The wind really slowed everyone down a lot in the second half of the race. It is a pity as my result would have been a lot better on a calm day.”
Hellen competed in an early version of a racing shoe evolved from the.
“It was my first time to wear them, and they felt good.” Hellen said. “I have to give thanks to the designers and the team who were able to get them ready so quickly. I believe our racing shoe is as good as anything on the market now.”
The two-time world 5000m champion was testing herself in the half-marathon for the last time before switching to shorter distances. And as the result in Istanbul shows, she’s a force to be reckoned with.
“I will go back to a training phase again now before running some 10K races in May. I know my endurance is good. I will work on more 10K-specific work in the next few weeks.”
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