Lilian Kasait, Peter Mwaniki reign supreme in World 10K Bengaluru 2024; Kiran Matre best among Indians at fifth

 In yet another case of a resounding victory for Kenyan runners, Peter Mwaniki clinched the men’s title while Lilian Kasait bagged the women’s title in the 16th edition of the World 10K Bengaluru on Sunday.

Kiran Matre ruled in the Indian elite section and ran a gritty race to clinch the first position and break the event record with a timing of 29:32.

In a testament to the run's aggressive nature, all the top four runners finished ahead of the meet record of 29.49 which was previously held by Suresh Kumar created in 2015. Meanwhile, Sanjivani dominated the Indian women’s lineup to set herself up for a comfortable first-place finish.

As winners of the prestigious USD 210,000 World Athletics Gold Label Road Race, Peter Mwaniki and Lilian Kasait took home an equal prize cheque of USD 26,000 each.

In the Indian elite category, Kiran Matre and Sanjivani Jadhav bagged the grand cash purse of INR 2,75,000 each. Additionally, Kiran Matre also secured a bonus of INR 1,00,000 for breaking the event record.

Mwaniki, who came into the race as a hot favourite, got off to a conservative start. At the 7.5km mark, he was level pegging with his Kenyan peer Hillary Chepkwony. However, Mwaniki surged forward in the final stretch to finish comfortably with a timing of 28:15, while Hillary Chepkwony (28:33) finished behind him. Also logging a resounding performance was 17-year-old debutant Hagos Eyob who clocked an impressive 28:39 to finish third.

The international elite women’s race took shape early as the world’s second fastest 10K runner, Emmaculate Achol looked to lead the pack from the get-go. Following the 7.1 Km mark, Lilian Kasait seized the opportunity to power ahead of Achol, with Irene Chaptai’s event record of (30:35) in danger.

However, Lilian Kasait finished her run just short of the event record, clocking 30:56. Meanwhile, Emmaculate Achol (31:17) and Lemlem Hailu (31:23) finished second and third respectively.

Speaking of her triumph, Lilian Kasait said, “It was a very aggressive race, we were fast from the beginning. Emmaculate was really pushing us all, I just tried to keep up with her. At the 7km mark, I felt I could push myself and decided to go for it.”

Kasait, however, lamented narrowly missing the event record. She said, “I feel I could have broken the course record today. At the end of the race, I felt I still had a lot of energy in me.”

The race for the Indian elite men saw the top four positions finish ahead of the previous course record. In an evenly-fought contest, Kiran Matre crossed the finish line while clocking his personal best of 29:32. In close pursuit were Ranjeet Kumar Patel (29:35) and Dharmendra (29:45) who completed the podium.

The troika of Kiran Matre, Ranjeet Kumar Patel and Dharmendra showed tremendous improvement in their timings from the previous edition of the TCS World 10K Bengaluru where they had finished 12th, 9th and 10th respectively.

Following the win, Kiran Matre opined, “Between the 4th and 8th kilometre, I found the run quite challenging, so I’m very pleased with the result. Last year I finished 12th, so this victory is very satisfying. I hope to use this momentum to prepare for the Paris Olympics and try to break the 28-minute mark.”

Meanwhile, event record holder Sanjivani dominated the lineup in the women’s category to complete her third victory at the TCS World 10K Bengaluru. Much like the international women’s contest, the Indian women’s run saw an early push in by Sonam (36:27). Sanjivani eventually broke through in pursuit of another event record, though she fell short with a timing of 34:03. She was closely followed by Lilli Das (34:13) who finished second while Preenu Yadav finished third at 34:24.

Reflecting on her victory, Sanjivani Jadhav remarked, “I am very happy with the victory, this is my hat trick! I started the race keeping the record in mind. I looked to push early on and even tried keeping up with the international elite athletes and did so for almost 2km.”

She further added, “I have been training very hard and my expectation was to break the record, so I am a little disappointed I didn’t manage to do that. I think the final stretch was uphill and along with the heat, it made the finish a challenging one.”