Hard fighting Lucy Murigi successfully defended her senior title at the IAAF/WMRA World Mountain Running Championships in Andorra on Sunday.
Related stories
Murigi, who had come into the race having retained her title at the high-class Sierre Zinal mountain race, quickly established a lead, reaching the midway checkpoint at 4.72km in 26:25 with a margin of 25 seconds over compatriot Viola Jelagat and Austria’s six-time champion Andrea Mayr.
Uganda’s Patricia Chepkwemboi was following 14 seconds behind, three seconds ahead of Britain’s Emily Collinge, who was runner-up in 2015.
Murigi, who won by 78 seconds last year, was able to extend her lead on the subsequent slight descent and final climb, reaching the finish in 1:04:55 at Forn de Canillo cable car lift 65 seconds clear.
Switzerland’s Maude Mathys, who won the European title this summer, covered the second half almost as quickly. Moving up from seventh at the first checkpoint, 29 seconds behind Jelagat, she took silver 26 seconds ahead of Jelagat, who earned bronze.
With Joyce Njeru in 13th, Kenya comfortably won the team gold.