SECOND WIN IN A ROW FOR EDRIS IN TRENTO

Ethiopia’s Muktar Edris successfully defended his title at the 69th edition of the Giro Al Sas in Trento on Saturday (10).

The world cross-country bronze medallist won in 28:46, six seconds faster than his winning time from last year, to beat a field that included five-time winner Edwin Soi.

A five-man group – formed by Edris, 2009 world 1500m champion Youssef Saad Kamel of Bahrain, world marathon bronze medallist Solomon Mutai of Uganda, 2008 Olympic 5000m bronze medallist Soi and 2012 Olympic 5000m bronze medallist Thomas Longosiwa of Kenya – took the early lead on the first one-kilometre lap.

Edris forced the pace, clocking a split of 2:41 for the fourth lap to pull away from Soi, Longosiwa and Mutai. Edris unleashed a sprint to win the half-way mark bonus and then produced his surge during the seventh lap when he opened up a 20-second gap over Longosiwa and Soi.

With one lap to go, Edris increased his gap to 25 seconds and went on to cross the finish line unchallenged in 28:46.

Read more at: IAAF.org