The Tallinn Marathon was won by representatives of well-known running countries
The Tallinn Marathon main stage was won by runners from Kenya and Ethiopia. Leonid Latsepov (men) and Kaisa Kukk (women) were the Estonian marathon champions. The marathon champions of the City of Tallinn and the Nordic Police were also crowned.
The 42-kilometre, 195-metre classic marathon, the main event of an international sporting event with the largest number of participants in Estonia, started this morning at 9am at the foot of Pika Hermann.
The Tallinn Marathon was won by Sammy Kigen from Kenya in a classy time of 2 hours 11 minutes 42 seconds. He was followed by his compatriots Thomas Kibet (2:12.06), Joseph Munywok (2:12.15) and Gilbert Kibet (2:13.48). Japan's Yuki Kawauchi came fifth in 2:14.07, the 119th time he has run the marathon distance in under 2 hours and 20 minutes. No one else in the world has done this.
Sixth overall was Leonid Latsepov of Sparta Sports Club, who set a new personal best of 2:14.23, the fastest time ever run by an Estonian marathoner in Estonia. Latsepov won both the Estonian and Tallinn marathon championship titles, and with today's hearty run laid a solid foundation for qualification for next year's Paris Olympic marathon. Roman Fosti (Sparta), who finished second in the championship, also performed well, finishing in an excellent time of 2 hours 22 minutes and 16 seconds in the final international marathon of his long running career, a high eighth place overall. The bronze medal in the Estonian and Tallinn Championships went to Janar Juhkov (2:36.05) from Treeningpartner. Norwegian Frode Stenberg (2:27.43), who finished tenth, was crowned Nordic Police Marathon Champion.
In the women's category, the main event went to Ethiopia. The fastest was Dessi Ethlemahu Sintayehu with a time of 2:34.04. Second was last year's Tallinn Marathon winner Pauline Mutwa Thitu (2:37.17) from Kenya, ahead of compatriot Aynalem Tefer (2:45.56). Kaisa Kukk of the Tartu sports club Kalev (2:50.22) finished fourth, winning both the gold medal in the Estonian Championship and the Nordic Police Championship title. Pille Hinn (2:54.00) from Sparta sports club came second in the Estonian championship but won the Tallinn championship title, leaving Maris Heinaru (2:58.20) from Treeningpartner club in third place.
A total of 87 runners finished the Tallinn Marathon in under three hours.
