Sport

Geoffrey Kamworor retains world half-marathon title

Kenyan recovered from falling flat on his face at the start in rainswept Cardiff

Kenya’s Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor wins the men’s elite race at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff. Photograph: David Davies/PA Wire
Kenya’s Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor wins the men’s elite race at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Cardiff. Photograph: David Davies/PA Wire
Sat Mar 26 2016 - 16:11

Kenya's Geoffrey Kamworor recovered from falling flat on his face at the start to retain his world half-marathon title in rainswept Cardiff on Saturday.

Kamworor and fellow Kenyan Bedan Karoki Muchiri, who kept up near world-record pace throughout the race, were shoulder to shoulder approaching the final mile before Kamworor forged ahead through horizontal rain and gusting winds for victory.

Olympic and world 5,000m and 10,000m champion Mo Farah gave the sodden home fans something to cheer on a dismal Easter weekend as the Briton kept plenty in the tank to produce a late dash and take the bronze medal.

Kenya's women completed a second successive clean sweep of the podium with Peres Jechirchir kicking away from pre-race favourite Cynthia Limo near the finish to take the title. Mary Wacera Ngugi was third.

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Kamworor’s race began farcically as he slipped over on the start line and was almost buried under a stampede of athletes before climbing back to his feet and carrying on.

He was quickly up with the leaders though and while the world record of 58:23 minutes was ultimately beyond him in the atrocious conditions his winning time of 59:10 was impressive.

Kamworor, who was second to Farah in the 10,000m world championship race in Beijing last year and could be a threat in Rio this August, is the first man to retain the half-marathon title since Eritrea’s Zersenay Tadese in 2009.