The Movistar Half Marathon of Madrid, which will be held on November 14, with a smoother route with an altimetry profile and more monumental, crossing some of the emblematic places of the city, it will have the presence of 19,000 runners through the streets of the Spanish capital.
The race will be attended by a powerful cast of African athletes, four of them Kenyans with accredited marks below the hour in the men’s category and two in the women’s category, who will try to threaten the records of the event. Kenyans Jonathan Kiplimo Maiyo, Jospath Kimutai Tanui, David Ngure Irungu and Solomon Kirwa Yego credit an official record lower than the hour in the distance. From that group, Kimutai Tanui and Ngure Irungu start as favorites and with their best personal records achieved this year in Berlin and Padua, respectively.
Spaniard Husamme Benabbou is the main national favorite to fight for the top spots. The Extremaduran managed to run in Valencia in 1:02:01 in 2019 and was the first Spaniard to finish in Madrid in 2018. The objective of all of them is to beat or get closer to the test record, owned by the Kenyan Kipkemoi Kiprono since 2019 with 1:01:47. In the female category there are three women who monopolize the favoritism to take the podium. They are the Kenyan Sandrafelis Chebet Tuie (1h07: 12 in Barcelona 2021) and Irine Jepchumba Kimais (1h07: 17 in Lens) together with the Romanian Irine Jepchumba Kimais (1h07: 45), who will try to beat the record of the test that Cynthia owns Jerotich since 2014 with 1h09: 40.
For this edition, the organization has arranged a new smoother route thinking about altimetry and more ‘monumental’ starting at Paseo de La Castellana with Ortega y Gasset and finishing at Paseo de Recoletos. In between, the runners will pass through the Santiago Bernabéu stadium, Plaza de Castilla, Calle Serrano, Puerta de Alcalá, Atocha, Paseo del Prado, Neptuno and Cibeles until they reach the finish line a little before Colón.
Two regulars of the test such as the Galician Javier Gómez Noya, five-time triathlon world champion, or Chema Martínez have also confirmed their attendance, although in the case of the Madrilenian he will run the 5 kilometers of the ProFuturo Race, which since 2018 has been held as a solidarity event within the Madrid Half Marathon. The Movistar Half Marathon of Madrid maintains its cataloging of ‘Road Race Label’ of the International World Athletics Federation in 2021.
In the presentation of the test held this Wednesday se paid tribute to the only four athletes who have completed the twenty editions of the Half Marathon. Sofia Miranda, councilor for the Sports area of the Madrid City Council, assured that “after a difficult period for the sport, races are once again filling the streets of Madrid and, in this case, with a race steeped in history, the best half marathon in Spain”. “It is also organized by the ADMarathon, a club that has the accent and the foundation to promote grassroots sport, which is the greatest exponent of the sport we want in our city.”