After many kilometers run together, in parallel, in the wake of their personal hares, the already reduced secondary group who grew up seeing themselves alongside the first two women, the Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir, the new marathon world champion, attacked her compatriot Joyciline Jepkosgei. Once again in advance. As in their three previous confrontations (victories for Jepchirchir in Valencia, Boston and London). The routine of the Olympic and world champion. But after a few seconds, she felt naked. He had fired a blank bullet. A spark that lit and went out in seconds. In less than a kilometer, Jepkosgei and his guide had tracked the adventurer. He left it to mature behind him and in the final straight of the race, at kilometer 39, after the bullring, he gave it the final blow and aimed for victory in Valencia. Joyciline descended on the postcard of the City of Arts and crossed the finish line in a capricious time (2h 14m) which leaves her fourth in the all-time world rankings.
A few minutes earlier, another Kenyan, John Korir, had won the prestigious finish line in Valencia with his best time ever (2h 2m 24s). The winner had played with his rivals, the record holder of this circuit, the Ethiopian Sisay Lemma, who melted like sugar in coffee. Then the others arrived: Deriba, Kangogo, Dida. They all paid for the audacity to follow an athlete who, two months ago, in Chicago, had run 30 kilometers at a world record speed. Korir let them go with him beyond the halfway point, where they passed in one hour, one minute and 47 seconds, slower than in the second half, where this 29-year-old Kenyan launched his attack, with a passage from kilometer 25 to 26 in 2m 48s, to complete this second partial in one hour and 37 seconds.
Korir climbs to eighth place in the all-time rankings and, more importantly, establishes himself as one of the contenders for domination of the distance in the years to come. His journey has not been easy. John always followed in the footsteps of his brother Wesley, who, like him, had won the Boston Marathon (2012) 13 years earlier. This triumph, and others, changed the history of Korir. Wesley used the profits to pay for the education of his six younger siblings. The year before last, he discovered a talent for running when he saw that he could follow in the footsteps of Tarah, his wife, a 2h 35m woman in the marathon. He encouraged him to continue but without stopping his studies.
Little John progresses and moves to the United States to train with Ron Mann under the tutelage of his brother Wesley. He made his marathon debut at the age of 22, in Ottawa, where he went under 2h 10m. But on the next attempt he withdrew, and when he arrived at the hotel he had a heated discussion with his mentors. John returned to Kenya and survived by driving tractors. Two years later, they reconciled after promising to be more serious about training. It was then that the triumphs of Chicago and Boston arrived. There, at the finish line on Boylston Street, Waiting for him was Wesley, the person who had shown him the way and taught him to be generous. John donated a tenth of the prize money in Boston ($150,000) to a charitable project run by the Kenyan Kids Foundation, the foundation his brother created to help educate children in his area.
Two Europeans and a Japanese registered behind Korir, all national record holders for their country. First the German Petros, then the Norwegian Kibrab and finally, already off the podium, the Japanese Osako. Sixth, surprising, the Briton Alex Yee (2h 6m 38s), the Olympic triathlon champion.
The Spaniards also shone on a bright morning, without wind and with a little heat, in Valencia. Ibrahim Chakir was the best of all (2h 7m 21, sixteenth) and the first of the six who achieved the minimum for the European Championship in Birmingham and a new personal best: Jorge González, the beginner Nassim Hassaous, Carlos Mayo, who suffered again in Valencia, the also beginner Fernando Carro and Jorge Blanco. The best of the women was Meritxell Soler, the Catalan dentist from Sant Joan de Vilatorrada. At 33, she established a new personal best (2h 23m 49s, ninth) and also achieved the minimum for the European Championship, like Ester Navarrete, the second Spaniard
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