Women's race 40th NN Marathon Rotterdam also promises to be exciting and fast

10/12/2021

Kenyan top athletes favourites for victory

The 40th NN Marathon Rotterdam will see two Kenyan top athletes at the start on Sunday 24 October, and they are both eager to win and set a personal record. Favourites Bornes Kitur and Stella Barsosio know the fast course from previous appearances and will want to capitalise on that experience to be triumphant when crossing the finish on the Coolsingel.

On paper, Bornes Kitur (..) is the fastest participant with a personal record of 2.21.26. That time helped her win her previous marathon in the Slovak city of Ljublana on 27 October 2019. In 2015, the African made her debut in Rotterdam for the classic distance (2.44.25). One year later, she finished in eighth place on the Coolsingel in 2.34.25. This will be her eleventh marathon.

In 2019, Stella Barsosio (28) finished in second place in the NN Marathon Rotterdam with a PR of 2.23.36, behind Ethiopian winner Ashete Bekere. That same year, she shone with a course record (2.24.33) in Sydney. She will be appearing in her eighth marathon. Besides Sydney, she was the fastest in Skopje (2017, 2.33.42), Krakow (2016, 2.33.01) and Belgrade (2016, debut in 2.43.41).

Women's race 40th NN Marathon Rotterdam also promises to be exciting and fast

The Kenyan top athletes are the favourites in a pool that also includes Nataliya Lehonkova (Ukraine, PR 2.28.58), Norway’s Runa Skrove Falch (2.33.52), Sweden’s Louise Wiker (2.36.29) and Dutch athletes Jacelyn Gruppen (2.52.17) and Marijke Visser (debut).

,,As is the case for the men’s race, our jubilee of the women’s race is also promising to turn into an exciting race: tense and fast,’’ according to Mario Kadiks, who will be stepping down as organiser of the NN Marathon Rotterdam after 35 editions.

Earlier, it was announced that Marius Kipserem will be running in the men’s race, amongst others. The Kenyan, who impressively controlled the 2019 NN Marathon Rotterdam (2.04.11), is going for a trilogy again: victory, personal and course records. Belgium’s Bashir Abdi, the Olympic bronze medal winner in Japan last summer, has announced that he wants to attack the European record.