Sule Utura Wins Venice Marathon

Venice, Italy – Sule Utura Gedo of Ethiopia won the Huawei Venice Marathon here on Sunday.

The men’s race was won by Eyob Gebrehiwet, the Italian runner of Eritrean origin. 

The defending champion Priscah Jepleting Cherono of Kenya suffered stomach cramps during the race and was unable to mount a challenge to the Ethiopian

Utura, the 2008 world U20 5000m champion, was joined by Cherono in the first half. They passed through 10 kilometres in 35:02 and 15 kilometres in 52:35, building up a gap of 16 seconds over Aynalem Woldemichael.

The lead duo reached the halfway mark in 1:14:10 and increased their gap to more than five minutes at 25 kilometres. Utura broke away soon after, though, and had a 53-second lead over Cherono by 30 kilometres.

The Ethiopian continued increasing her lead and eventually went on to win in 2:29:04, smashing her PB by five minutes. Despite fading dramatically in the final kilometres, Cherono held on to second place and crossed the line in 2:41:08.

Read more at: IAAF