World half marathon record holder Joyciline Jepkosgei has been added to the women’s elite field for the Delhi Half Marathon 2018, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, on 21 October, against three-time Olympic gold medallist Tirunesh Dibaba.
The pair have met twice before. Firstly, at last year’s Ras al Khaimah Hal Marathon when Jepkosgei finished third and the Ethiopian legend was fifth; secondly in May this year at the Manchester 10km in Great Britain when Dibaba (whose participation in the ADHM 2018 has been previously announced) got the upper hand with a convincing win – 31:08 to 31:57 – with the Kenyan runner in second place.
However, Jepkosgei will come to the marathon in fine form buoyed by a half marathon win over a classy local field in a high-altitude race in her native Kenya last Sunday (7 October).
“The Airtel Delhi Half Marathon is my first-ever trip to India and so I am very much looking forward to visiting and also competing against, once again, Tirunesh Dibaba as well as the rest of the field of accomplished and confident women,” said the 24-year-old Jepkosgei.
Jepkosgei grabbed international attention in an emphatic way on several occasions during 2017.
She set a world half marathon best of 1:04:52 in Prague in April last year and improved that mark by one second to 1:04:51 in the Spanish city of Valencia 12 months ago.