Jeruto negative splits Toronto, Kiptoo runs 2:08:08

Leah Jeruto's winning run at the Toronto Waterfront Marathon was built on a negative split. She ran 70:55 for the first half and 70:24 for the second, finishing in a lifetime best 2:21:19 and beating runner-up Nigsti Haftu by 15 seconds. CITIUS MAG called it "EXECUTED TO PERFECTION."

CITIUS MAG

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a new lifetime best thanks to a slight negative split of 70:55-70:24

That is the detail that was missing from the first read of the result, which we covered earlier. A marathon won by going faster in the back half is a marathon where the winner never panicked, and Jeruto had enough margin that CITIUS described her as cruising.

The men's race stayed packed deep into the course

At 35K the top six men were separated by a single second, all of them on sub-2:07 pace, according to CITIUS MAG. That is a lot of race left with almost no separation.

Wesley Kiptoo was in it. With 7km to go, McKirdy Trained had him on pace for a 2:07 low and flagged the chance of another American under 2:07:30 this year. He finished in 2:08:08.

Pidhoresky takes the Canadian title at 39

Dayna Pidhoresky won the Athletics Canada national title at Toronto in a personal best 2:26:02 at age 39, as reported by David Monti. A personal best in your fortieth year, at a national championship, is the kind of result that does not happen by accident.

What it actually means. The headline number from Toronto is Jeruto's 2:21:19, but the splits are the story. A 31 second negative split on a day when the men's lead pack was still six wide at 35K says the conditions were good and the racing was honest. Kiptoo's 2:08:08 came in off a pace that looked faster with 7km left, so the closing kilometres cost him, and the sub-2:07:30 that McKirdy Trained raised as a possibility did not land on the day.

CITIUS MAG

@CitiusMag

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the top six runners separated by just. a single second. That’s a half-dozen guys sub-2:07 pace through 35K!