The Kenyan Daniel Simiu Ebenyo and the Ethiopian Yalemzerf Yehualaw Densa dominated the San Silvestre Vallecana among a group of 400 athletes -250 men and 150 women- who enjoyed the privilege of keeping the flame of the race alive, forced this year to take refuge among the elite to survive under the pandemic.
The other 35,000 registered, those who could not access the minimum participation marks among the elite (34 minutes for men, 40 for women), have run the test any day in December through an application created by the organizers.
La Vallecana, universal queen of the San Silvestres, had to radically modify her appearance due to the coronavirus. He maintained the classic distance of 10 km, but instead of wandering through the center of the capital, between the Santiago Bernabeu and the Rayo stadium, it has been contested on a 2.5 km circuit in the Vallecas expansion, without the heat of the public that characterizes it.
The elite runners had to pass an antigen test hours before the race, when they picked up the bib, and when they started, they kept their masks for a few meters.
The Africans were aiming to regain the title, after the triumph of Belgian Somali origin Bashir Abdi last year, and the goal was secured from the second half.
Before that, Ayad Lamdassem, the brand new Spanish marathon record holder (2:06:35), took the initiative – and five times on the podium in Vallecas – who played the hare on the first lap. Then he was succeeded by Dutchman Mike Foppen (28:08 in 10K).
Daniel Ebenyo, the 5,000 Kenyan champion, broke the front group on the third lap. He arrived in Vallecas with a spectacular mark of 27:18, achieved in September in the 10K in Berlin, and he left his pursuers no choice. He won with a time of 27:42, and behind, 26 seconds behind, Italian Faniel Ghebrehiwet arrived to take second place.
Paul Chelimo (28:14), Olympic runner-up of 5,000 in Rio 2016. He had to settle for the bottom drawer of the podium, followed, with the same record, by Dutchman Mike Foppen, and the first Spaniard, Ouassim Oumaiz from Nerja (28:36 ), who was running his first 10,000 on the road.
Chelimo was far from his goal, the United States record of 10K, shared by Bernard Lagat and Mark Nenow (27:48)
An hour earlier, Densa, 21, author of the second best half marathon record in history (1h04: 46), recovered for Ethiopia, three years later, the victory in the Vallecana, the first in history in which the women – 150 in total – ran apart, to avoid crowds.
The race pointed to a new African duel, this time between the Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich – world marathon champion in 2019 – who returned to the charge after second place last year, and Densa, bronze in the last World Half Marathon .
Indeed, in the first kilometer they were alone in the lead, the Kenyan pulling the Ethiopian. Then, taking advantage of the slow pace, they were joined by Sarah Lahti, the Swedish half marathon record holder, who took a head out of the Africans. He only endured with them until the second of the four laps of the 2.5 km circuit.
On a cold and windy night, Densa attacked halfway through and found no response in the Kenyan, who finished second for the second year in a row, as also happened with the same protagonists, this same year in the New Delhi half marathon.
Densa won with a time of 31:17. Chepngetich arrived 33 seconds later, and the French Alessia Zarbo (33:00) completed the podium. Carolina Robles, fourth with 33:08, was the best Spanish.
La Vallecana has not registered a Spanish victory in men since 2003, when Chema Martínez from Madrid won, and in women since 2008, when Marta Domínguez from Palencia won.
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