Vincent Kipchumba and Degitu Azimeraw Win 2019 Amsterdam Marathon

By Adam Kopet

Leonard Korir made his marathon debut Sunday at the TCS Amsterdam Marathon. He finished 11th in 2:07:56 to set a new American marathon debut best.

RESULTS

Korir went with the leaders through the first half of the race, reaching the halfway split in 1:03:02. Had he held that pace the rest of the way, he would become the fastest American marathoner on a record-eligible course in history.

Unfortunately, Korir began to drop off the lead pack shortly after 25 kilometers. His last few miles were especially painful, but he still managed to cross the finish line in 2:07:56, ranking him fifth on the U.S. all-time list.

That takes 28 seconds off Ryan Hall's debut marathon, which had previously stood as the best U.S. marathon debut. He ran that in 2007 at the London Marathon.

Korir's time is a US#1 on the year and lowers the U.S. top-10 average marathon time to 2:10:19, the fastest in over a decade.

The race was won by Vincent Kipchumba of Kenya. He crossed the finish line in the 1928 Olympic stadium in 2:05:09. Ethiopia's Solomon Deksisa finished second in 2:05:16, two seconds ahead of Kenya's Elisha Rotich.

The women's race saw Degitu Azimeraw of Ethiopia pull away for the win in her marathon debut. She won in 2:19:26, the second-fastest debut marathon time in history.

Finishing behind Azimeraw was Ethiopia's Tigist Girma in 2:19:52. She created controversy recently when she withdrew from the Toronto Waterfront Marathon, citing the course not being fast enough for her. At the time she had a best of 2:26:34.

Azmera Gebru rounded out a podium sweep for Ethiopia, finishing third in 2:20:48. All three runners broke the previous course record.