Kenya’s Marius Kipserem on Sunday conquered the Rotterdam Marathon in a course record of 2:04:10 in the Netherlands.
Kipserem slashed 17 seconds from the previous record of 2:04:27 set in 2009 by Duncan Kibet.
At 35km it is between Marius Kipserem and Emmanuel Saina#RotterdamMarathon pic.twitter.com/nQu1orHRqt
— Daniel N Wahome (@MistaWahome) April 7, 2019
He finished ahead of Turkey’s Kaan Kigen, who clocked 2:05:26, while another Kenyan Emmanuel Saina sealed the podium three in 2:05:42.
Kipserem, who ran a brilliant race, broke from the leading park after 30km when the pacemakers dropped with his training mate Emmanuel Saina, Abdi Negeeye from the Netherlands and Kaan Kigen in tow.
Today, 17.000 people participated in the #MarathonRotterdam. This year Marius Kipserem was the first to cross the finish, and Abdi Nageeye broke the Dutch record. Congratulations to both! pic.twitter.com/yP91VDgTJ6
— NL Embassy in Kuwait (@NLinKuwait) April 7, 2019
Saina and Kipserem later opened a gap that made it hard for the chasing group to close, before Kipserem increased his pace dropping Saina in the 37km mark.
Marius Kipserem with his second Rotterdam Marathon crown, with a PB improvement of 2 minutes and breaking a 10 year old course record#RotterdamMarathon pic.twitter.com/2TErgiAUqp
— Daniel N Wahome (@MistaWahome) April 7, 2019
Kipserem took the lead controlling his pace in the remaining five kilometres, before cutting the tape reducing the course record time previously held by Duncan Kibet since 2009.
The athlete, who trains in Kapsabet, Nandi County in an earlier interview with media said that he wanted to reclaim the title, which slipped from him last year after Kenneth Kipkemoi won the race.
“I will be looking forward to win the race again this year after missing the title last year. It’s a course that I know and I will be looking forward to a good run,” said Kipserem before flying out of the country.
After running 2:04:04 to win the Abu Dhabi Marathon in December on a short course, Kenya's Marius Kipserem gets a real PR by running 2:04:10 to win the Rotterdam Marathon.
— Jonathan Gault (@jgault13) April 7, 2019
That's a 2+ minute PR and breaks Duncan Kibet's 10-year-old course record.https://t.co/EwngUNztj0 pic.twitter.com/O4KcTZHN0Q
The athlete also won the 2016 edition, before winning again in 2017.