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Irine Cheptai returns to Delhi looking to build on her 2022 victory. On Sunday 18 October, the Kenyan will attempt to win the Indian capital’s half marathon for a second time. Two runners in the field already know the podium here: Ethiopia’s Melal Siyoum Biratu, runner-up last year, and Kenya’s Cynthia Limo, second in 2024.
Cheptai’s Delhi experience against the challengers
Cheptai has a personal best of 1:04:53 over the distance. The return of Biratu and Limo above all offers a concrete benchmark: she will have to beat rivals who have already done well in this race.
Cheptai arrives with a caveat about her preparation, however. “I wouldn’t say I’m in my best shape right now,” she said on Friday at the press conference, in remarks reported by the IANS agency. After the Sydney Marathon, she says she took two weeks off before resuming training. Her personal best and her Delhi experience should therefore not be mistaken for a guarantee of her current condition.
Legese among seven sub-hour men
In the men’s race, Birhanu Legese is chasing a third win in Delhi. The Ethiopian has a personal best of 58min 59sec. The initial field includes seven runners who have already <a href="https://absafricatv.com/morocco-sweep-past-libya-to-finish-top-of-group-a/” title=”Morocco sweep past Libya to finish top of Group A”>finished a half marathon in under an hour, Legese included: that threshold underlines the depth of the competition.
His rivals include Kenya’s Charles Matata, second in Delhi in 2023 and in Istanbul this year. Ethiopians Deriba Tesfaye and Melaku Belachew are also listed. Their recent credentials come from the marathon: a second place in Rotterdam for the former, a victory in Hong Kong for the latter. They will have to translate them to a distance half as long.
In Brazzaville, two starts in the early hours of Sunday
The men’s elite race is scheduled to start at 5:18 in India, which is 0:48 in Brazzaville on Sunday 18 October. The women follow at 5:20, or 0:50 in Brazzaville. Both races start and finish at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium.
The organiser announced adjustments to the half marathon course in its information of 14 October.
File photo: Irine Cheptai, second runner from the right, in the lead group at the Boston Marathon, in Newton, on 20 April 2026. Photo: ArnoldReinhold / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. Layout and SNA logo added. Original photograph · CC BY 4.0 licence.
