World Half Marathon Championships 2003

The 12th Half Marathon World Championships (officially IAAF World Half Marathon Championships ) were held on October 4, 2003 in the Portuguese city ​​of Vilamoura .

A hard-fought race developed for the men on the flat course. A top group of eleven, dominated by East Africans, reached the 10-kilometer mark in 28:54 minutes. After fifteen kilometers, nine runners were still leading in 43:26 minutes. On the final kilometer, the Kenyans Martin Kiptoo Lel and John Cheruiyot Korir and the Tanzanians Fabiano Joseph and Martin Hhaway Sulle increased the pace. Lel had the better end of himself when he beat the only seventeen-year-old Joseph by only three seconds, whose compatriot Sulle reached the goal after another four seconds before Korir. The first three all achieved personal bests.

The team championship (adding up the times of the three fastest runners in a country) was won by Tanzania with just eight seconds ahead of Kenya. Both countries each had three runners in the top six. Ethiopia followed a long way behind.

The results in the women's race, which started an hour and a half later, were much clearer. The high favorite Paula Radcliffe from Great Britain already had 36 seconds ahead of her closest pursuers after ten kilometers in warm temperatures of 22 ° C and in the end clearly beat the defending champion Berhane Adere from Ethiopia. It was Radcliffe's third title win after 2000 and 2001. Her lead at the finish of 1:27 minutes was the largest of a female winner over the runner-up in the history of the World Half Marathon Championships. The Australian Benita Johnson surprisingly secured third place.

With a complete performance (four runners among the top ten), Russia won the team championship in the women's category ahead of Japan and Romania.

Results

Men

Individual evaluation

space	athlete	country	Time (h)
1	Martin Kiptoo Lel	KEN	1:00:49
2	Fabiano Joseph	TAN	1:00:52
3	Martin Hhaway Sulle	TAN	1:00:56
4th	John Cheruiyot Korir	KEN	1:01:02
5	John Yuda Msuri	TAN	1:01:13
6th	Yusuf Songoka	KEN	1:01:18
7th	Zersenay Tadese	ERI	1:01:26
8th	Jackson Koech	KEN	1:01:28

Of 103 registered athletes, 98 started and 86 reached the finish. John Buhagiar MLT (1:11:04 h, 72nd place) and Naseer Ismail MDV (1:21:55 h, 85th place) set national records. Participants from German-speaking countries did not take part.    

Team evaluation

space	Country and athletes	Time (h)
1	Tanzania Fabiano Joseph (2nd) Martin Hhaway Sulle (3rd) John Yuda Msuri (5th)	3:03:01 1:00:52 1:00:56 1:01:13
2	Kenya Martin Kiptoo Lel (1st) John Cheruiyot Korir (4th) Yusuf Songoka (6th)	3:03:09 1:00:49 1:01:02 1:01:18
3	Ethiopia Tesfaye Tola (9th) Dereje Adere (11th) Mesfin Hailu (16th)	3:07:34 1:01:35 1:02:47 1:03:12

A total of 17 teams were rated.

Women

Individual evaluation

space	Athlete	country	Time (h)
1	Paula Radcliffe	GBR	1:07:35
2	Berhane Adere	KEN	1:09:02
3	Benita Johnson	OUT	1:09:26
4th	Lidija Grigoryeva	RUS	1:09:32
5	Constantina Tomescu	ROU	1:10:05
6th	Alla Shilyayeva	RUS	1:10:13
7th	Lyudmila Biktasheva	RUS	1:10:31
8th	Susan Chepkemei	ETH	1:10:35

Of 76 registered athletes, 73 started and 68 reached the finish. Luminita Zaituc GER gave up the race early.  

Team evaluation

space	Country and athletes	Time (h)
1	Russia Lidija Grigoryeva (4th) Alla Schiljajewa (6th) Lyudmila Biktaschewa (7th)	3:30:16 1:09:32 1:10:13 1:10:31
2	Japan Miki Takanaka (9th) Takako Kotorida (13th) Risa Hagiwara (16th)	3:34:23 1:10:36 1:11:37 1:12:10
3	Romania Constantina Tomescu (5th) Luminița Talpoș (15th) Nuța Olaru (23rd)	3:35:07 1:10:05 1:12:02 1:13:00

A total of 13 teams were rated.

Web links

• World Half Marathon Championships 2003 ( Memento from April 13, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) on the IAAF website