Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo wins the 2022 Great North Run men's title as Hellen Obiri defends women's crown - Results
Kiplimo beat Olympic champions Selemon Barega and Kenenisa Bekele to win his first Great North Run title at the world's biggest half marathon in England.
Athletics
Jacob Kiplimo and Hellen Obiri beat world class fields to win the 2022 Great North Run on Sunday, September 11, in northeast England.
The world record holder Kiplimo ran alone for most of the men's race at the world's biggest half marathon. The talented 21-year-old Ugandan won in 59:33, beating Ethiopian Olympic athletics champions Selemon Barega and Kenenisa Bekele to second and third respectively. Barega marked a successful debut on the road in 1:00:39 ahead of Bekele who timed 1:01:01.
Obiri successfully defended her Great North Run women's title with a brilliant final kick, outsprinting Olympic gold medallists Peres Jepchirchir and Almaz Ayana.
The Kenyan won Sunday’s race in 1:07:05 with the Tokyo 2020 marathon champion Jepchirchir closed in for second in 1:07:07. Ethiopia’s world and Olympic 10,000m champ Ayana was third (1:07:10).
The two elite races were streamed live on Olympic Channel, with around 60,000 runners taking part in the 21.1km (13.1 mile) road race from Newcastle to South Shields.
The athletics event began with a moment of silence in tribute to the UK's Queen Elizabeth II, who died on Thursday.
Kiplimo's solo run for men's glory
The men’s race was a crowded one with Barega and Kiplimo, a bronze medallist over the 10,000m at Tokyo 2020 and at the 2021 worlds, heading the pack interchangeably with Bekele running at a touching distance.
Kiplimo made a sudden injection of pace in his first Great North Run just before the halfway point, and remained unchallenged. He comfortably extended his command of the race and at the 19km mark had a 32-second lead, brilliant running from the young East African who capped his track season with double distance titles at last month’s Commonwealth Games.
"I enjoyed the race, it was nice. I came here to win it, I was not worried about the people, it was just about winning the race," Kiplimo told the PA News Agency after his victory, the first by a Ugandan.
Barega, who struggled at the Worlds where he did the distance double, had a successful half marathon debut in second place ahead of triple Olympic champion Bekele.
It was a perfect build-up for the 40-year-old distance running star, winner of the 2013 edition of UK’s biggest running event over the distance, ahead of his return to the London marathon on October 2.
The top British runner was the 2021 winner, Marc Scott who finished sixth in a time of 1.02.28.
Obiri holds off Olympic champs for women's title
Earlier, the women’s event shaped up to be a race of four with Obiri, the two-time Olympic silver medallist who ended her track career with second place finish in the 10,000m at the World Athletics championships last July, showing early intent.
She paced the early breakaway group who stayed intact until 10km when they dropped off the second Ethiopian Hiwot Gebrekidan.
The trio held on with Gebrekidan injecting pace and catching up twice. As they approached the last kilometer it was down to a three-woman race and still very hard to pick out who among the Olympic stars would claim the win.
Obiri timed her sprint at the 500m mark for a brilliant second successive title.
The talented 32-year-old, who was using her race to tune up for her marathon debut in New York on November 6, comfortably won ahead of compatriot Jepchirchir, who had not lost a 21km race since 2016 when she finished fourth at the Ras A Khaimah International.
Ayana’s third place finish was outstanding after difficult recent seasons. She had surgery on both knees following her Rio 2016 10,000m gold medal win, and also became a mother. Her compatriot Gebrekidan finished fourth.
Briton's Charlotte Purdue, was the top placed local runner in fifth place in 1.10.11.
David Weir won his ninth Great North Run title in the men’s wheelchair race, with Eden Rainbow-Cooper pipping Samantha Kinghorn by just 0.07 of a second to take the women's wheelchair race.
Great North Run 2022 top results
Men's elite race
- Jacob Kiplimo (UGA) - 59:32
- Selemon Barega (ETH) - 1:00:39
- Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) - 1:01:01
- Suguru Osako (JPN) - 1:01:05
- Brett Robinson (AUS) - 1:02:06
- Marc Scott (GBR) - 1:02:28
Women's elite race
- Hellen Obiri (KEN) - 1:07:05
- Peres Jepchirchir - 1:07:07
- Almaz Ayana (ETH) - 1:07:10
- Hiwot Gebrekidan (ETH) - (1:07:22)
- Charlotte Purdue (GBR) - 1:10:11)