![]() Sage Hurta Third in 800m at Diamond League FinalsĪfter all of the big track meets this year, it was no surprise that last week’s Diamond League Finals in Zurich, Switzerland, was a little anticlimactic. Obiri, Jepchirchir and Ayana were still together within the final kilometer, but then Obiri started her sprint at the 500m mark and couldn’t be caught. Obiri, the two-time Olympic silver medallist who ended her track career with a second-place finish in the 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships in Oregon in July, led an early breakaway group that remained intact until the 10km mark. The loss was Jepchirchir’s first defeat in a half marathon since 2016. She outsprinted her countrywoman Peres Jepchirchir (1:07:07), the 2020 Olympic Marathon champion, as well as 2022 10,000-meter world champion Almaz Ayana of Ethiopia (1:07:10). 6, won her second consecutive Great North Run women’s title in Manchester, England, with a brilliant final kick to win in 1:07:05. The 32-year-old Kenyan, who will be racing the New York City Marathon on Nov. Hellen Obiri’s build-up to her debut marathon seems to be going quite well based on the sterling effort she displayed while successfully defending her Great North Run title on Sunday. Hellen Obiri wins Great North Run Half Marathon A total of 20 women competed in the elite race today, and 18 of them ran sub-4:30. Also of note, Japan’s Nozomi Tanaka finished sixth in 4:19.3, the fastest time and highest place ever by a Japanese woman at the race. Adelle Tracey, who was raised in Great Britain but now competes for Jamaica, was fifth in 4:19.2. Jemma Reekie, another Scot who was the race’s defending champion, finished fourth in 4:18.3. Third place in the women’s elite race went to unsponsored 29-year-old Eleanor Fulton, who ran a stellar 4:18.0 to cap off a season where she set personal bests at 800m (2:00.45), 1,500m (4:03.03), mile (4:23.65), and 3000m (8:44.68). I would have been disappointed, but the main thing was for me to win today, and I was just so chuffed that I could do that.” “I didn’t realize it was that fast I didn’t actually look up at the clock when I crossed the line. “With the conditions, I wasn’t thinking about times at all,” Muir said. She said later that winning was her only goal. Had she slowed just a bit more she might have missed breaking Jenny Simpson’s event record of 4:16.1 set in 2019. Just before breaking the finish tape with her victory well in hand, the exhausted Muir eased up her pace just slightly. “I thought she was just going to skirt ahead to get the bonus, but she just never looked back. “I was like, well, Laura really wants the halfway bonus,” said American Nikki Hiltz who was the second finisher in the women’s elite race in 4:17.4. She rapidly built a huge lead and her key rivals realized quickly that she wasn’t coming back. You’re going to catch them by surprise and keep going.'” The people will think you’re going for the halfway mark. ![]() If you do that, it’s like a double bluff. “I said, ‘if you go here (you) break the field apart. “We went out yesterday and looked at it and marked out where the halfway point was,” Young told Race Results Weekly. More than 8,500 runners participated this year, making it the second largest field in the event’s 41-year history. They decided to bluff the field midway through the race where Muir would appear to be going for the halfway prime of $1,000 before she would surely slow down to her regular race rhythm. Muir carefully planned her mid-race attack with coach Andy Young. After running the first half of the race at the front of a large pack of women, the 29-year-old blasted away from the field at the halfway point to win in a new race record of 4:14.8. She was the 1,500m silver medalist at last year’s Tokyo Olympics and the bronze medalist at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon in July, but she also won the European and Commonwealth 1,500m titles this summer. The wet surface didn’t inhibit Muir, who hails from Inverness, Scotland, was running as boldly as she has all season. However, runners had to be careful on wet pavement from rainfall that fell in the hours before the race. Run along a 20-block section of what is known as Museum Mile, the Fifth Avenue Mile is the world’s largest and most prestigious road mile. Scottish runner Laura Muir concluded her best season as a professional runner with one of the best races of her career at Sunday’s New Balance Fifth Avenue Mile in New York City. Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!
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