Bengaluru, April 26 (IANS) Two new champions emerged amongst the International Elite Athletes, one with prior experience and another on her new voyage at the 18th edition of the World 10K, a World Athletics Gold Label Race, here on Sunday.

When Rodrigue Kwizera missed the top spot in a photo finish to Kenya’s Sebastian Sawe three years ago, he promised to come back to take the title in Bengaluru, and he did so with grit and determination today.

Kwizera snatched the lead at the 8th kilometer while Kibet was still on his heels. The 26-year-old runner from Burundi, who was a 10,000m World Championships finalist in Budapest 2023, never looked back and went on to win in a new event record at 27:31, about 7 seconds faster than Kenya’s Nicholas Kipkorir Kimeli timed four years ago. It was the fifth fastest 10K time for Kwizera in his career.

The 20-year-old Kibet, who earlier this year clocked 26:39 in Spain, finished runner-up in 27:39 here. Kenya’s Gilbert Kipkosgei Kiprotich, running only his second international 10K, finished third in 27:43.

Kwizera earned USD 34,000 today (which includes the event record bonus of USD 8,000) and went home the happiest man.

Talking about today’s race, Kwizera said, “I am very happy to have won the race. I’m grateful for the invitation. The challenge was the heat. I have been training in Spain and it’s much cooler this time of the year there. Today I told myself after 5K I will push. And then again in the final 1K. Yes, I wanted to go for the event record, so I am glad that I did it”.

Defending champion Sarah Chelangat faced a stiff challenge right from the start of the women’s race. Kenya’s 20-year-old Brenda Jepchirchir, who set an early world lead of 29:25 while winning at Valencia this January, maintained her superiority by hauling about eight runners in the first quarter of the race.

Rwanda’s Florence Niyonkuru (25) had a slight edge at the moment, but no one took her as a serious threat as she was running her maiden 10K today. However, Niyonkuru remained a leader, passing the 5K mark at 15:19, along with another half-dozen runners.

The leading bunch thinned after 7 km, with just four women still holding podium ambitions. Niyonkuru and Jepchirchir were joined by Ethiopian Melal Biratu and Kenyan Judy Chepaskwony in the fray. Another Ethiopian, Chaltu Dida Diriba, who clocked 29:50 in Spain this year, was sixth at that time. She made a kick in the last kilometer and closed the gap to the leaders.

At one stage, Niyonkuru, who is training in Kenya, looked confident of breaching the event record. However, she slowed a bit in the waning stages of the race, as there was no one to push her. The Rwandan went on to win in 30:45. Jepchirchir (30:59) and Diriba (31:03) filled the other two places on the podium.

“The conditions were challenging, but I focused on the competition. I missed the event record. Maybe next year I can come back for it. After the half-marathon in Berlin, I got more confident about the 10K. That race was a confidence booster for me, and it helped me today”, Niyonkuru said after today’s race.

Harmanjot Singh and Sanjivani Jadhav headlined the Indian performances at the World 10K, delivering standout runs to secure top honours in their respective categories and prize purses of INR 3,00,000 and INR 2,75,000.

Harmanjot clocked 29:13 to emerge as the fastest Indian, falling just a second short of the event record and narrowly missing out on the additional INR 1,00,000 bonus. Meanwhile, Karnataka’s Shailesh Kushwaha (29:21) and Deepak Bhatt (29:52) completed the podium soon after

Sanjivani, continued her remarkable run at the event, clinching a third consecutive title and her fifth overall, with a time of 35:01. In an exciting contest for second place Soniya (35:31) edged past Bhagirathi (35:32) to improve on her sixth-place finish from last year.

Reflecting on the victory, Harmanjot added, “I had the event record in mind and tried to stay with the international elite pack as far as I could, which was till 5K. After that, I decided to rely on my own judgement.”

Close behind, Shailesh Kushwaha’s highlighted the importance of positioning with the international elite packs.

“My plan was to finish first or second. One key learning was that if you catch the front group, it really helps push you,” he said. “I wanted to run with the Kenyan athletes, and that helped me finish on the Indian podium.”

In the women’s race, Sanjivani Jadhav once again underlined her consistency at the event, securing a third successive title.

“My plan was to go for the event record. This is my third consecutive win here and I’m proud. I haven’t been specifically training for road races, but this is one of my favourite cities to run. I am the event record holder, so I really wanted to take part,” she said.

Soniya, who finished second, reflected a turnaround in preparation compared to last year.

“I hadn’t even planned to run; I almost didn’t compete this year. Last year I didn’t train well. This year I came in much better prepared,” she said. “I definitely tried to catch Sanjivani, but I wasn’t able to.”

–IANS

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