Sara Hall Runs Massive PR in Berlin, Takes 5th Place – Runner’s World

• The women’s race at the 2019 Berlin Marathon was won by Ashete Bekere in 2:20:14. Fellow-Ethiopian Mare Dibaba was second in 2:20:21, with Kenya’s Sally Chepyego taking third.
• American Sara Hall ran a huge personal best, placing fifth overall with a time of 2:22:16.
• Marathon legend Joan Benoit Samuelson, 62, clocked a time of 3:02:21. That breaks the official World Masters Association record for the 60-64 age-group.

Sara Hall raced to a huge PR of 2:22:16 in a brilliant fifth place in today’s Berlin Marathon. The women’s race was won by Ashete Bekere in 2:20:14, pulling away at the end from fellow-Ethiopian Mare Dibaba, 2:20:21, with Kenya’s Sally Chepyego taking third overall in 2:21:06.

Hall’s time takes four minutes from her previous best time of 2:26:20 and moves her up to sixth in the U.S. all-time rankings.

“I’m very happy. It’s the first time I’ve run a marathon with negative splits,” Hall told Runner’s World. “When I began to catch other women after halfway, I had fun and ran some 5:15 miles. It got tough near the end, with strong wind and running alone, but I finished strong. Ryan and I knew I was ready for an improvement, and it’s good to do it well.”

She added that she came to Berlin hoping for a fast time to place her as a top contender for the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta next February. Hall is also planning to run the New York City Marathon on November 3 to gain experience on a tough, hilly course without pressure for a fast time. The heavy race schedule doesn’t feel daunting—she’s done it once before, in 2017, when she had five weeks between the Frankfurt Marathon and the Cal International Marathon, which she won.

Hall also gave a lot of credit to her husband and coach, Ryan Hall, who is the American record holder in the half marathon. She said it was her best period of training ever, with not one day off for injury or illness since racing Boston in April.

“We knew from her training times that she was ready to move to a new level. It was a matter of getting it right in the race today,” Ryan Hall added.

Sara Hall also recognized the contribution of the four children the couple have adopted.

“It’s good to think about something other than yourself,” she said. “Four kids need a lot of attention, and that gives focus and extra purpose to justify the commitment to running.”

Sally Kipyego made it a good American double, also smashing her personal best with a time of 2:25:10, taking seventh place.

Former world record holder and the first women’s Olympic marathon champion Joan Benoit Samuelson, 62, was a quiet but significant presence in today’s race. Despite her insistence that she was not racing seriously, she broke the official record (3:02:50 by Claudine Marchadier in 2007) for the 60-64 age-group by running 3:02:21. Even while besting that time, she wasn’t the winner of her age group of the final owner of the record today—Ria Van Landeghem of Belgium (who also ran the 1984 Olympic marathon) ran 16 seconds faster.

A faster mark, 3:01:30, was run by Bernadine Portenski (New Zealand) in Australia in 2010, and is recognized by the .

“I’m here to celebrate our 35th wedding anniversary today and to collect my fourth World Marathon Major (WMM),” Benoit Samuelson said, avoiding all reference to the age-group record. “I ran the first 35 kilometers with my daughter, and felt pretty good. I’ll jog through Tokyo for WMM No. 5, and then complete the sixth in London. I came close to three hours today, and will save sub-3 for London.”

The women’s race had been anticipated as the one that would produce fast times, but things worked out otherwise, as they settled from the start for the 2:20-2:22 range. Defending champion Gladys Cherono was prominent early on, but dropped out after halfway. Another casualty was the great track star Meseret Defar, who had looked the smoothest of the lead pack.

Bekere, 31, took a minute off her PR to win, in her first attempt at a World Marathon Majors race, though she has a strong sequence of wins or podium places going back to 2011 in races like Rome, Rotterdam, Toronto Waterfront, and Valencia. The victory secured her 40,000 Euros (about $43,000).

“I was confident I could win. My plan was always to be strong in the lead group, and take the initiative at the best time. I am a good friend of Mare Dibaba, so I knew she would be dangerous,” Bekere said. From the village of Birte, Ethiopia, which also produced men’s winner Kenenisa Bekele, she is a former soccer player and has an interest in fashion. Third-placer Sally Chepyego of Kenya (not to be confused with Sally Kipyego of the U.S.), also claimed local pedigree.

“I am teammates with Eliud Kipchoge and Geoffrey Kamworor. Eliud sent me congratulations by text message immediately after the race,” she said. “‘Sally, you have done it!’ [the text read] I believed I could run my personal best, and am very happy that I did it by two minutes.”

German supporters were excited with the sixth place finish of new citizen Melat Kejeta, who was running her marathon debut and secured an Olympic qualifying time of 2:23:57, which also makes her the third fastest German of all time.

Roger Robinson won the over-40, and set an over-50 record (2:28:01) at New York, and is author of the acclaimed When Running Made History.