Organisers of the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon have announced that Tsehay Gemechu and Andamlak Belihu will defend their titles at the World Athletics Gold Label road race on Sunday 29 November.

Ethiopia’s Degitu Azmeraw smashed the women’s course record at the TCS Amsterdam Marathon with 2:19:26, the second-fastest debut in history for the distance, while Kenya’s Vincent Kipchumba won a close men’s contest in 2:05:09 at the IAAF Gold Label road race on Sunday (20).

The women’s 10,000m produced one of the major highlights of the fourth day of athletics at the African Games in Rabat, with Ethiopia stamping their authority in the event on Thursday (29).

Tsehay Gemechu took 15 seconds off Tirunesh Dibaba’s Ethiopian 10km record at the Valencia 10K Ibercaja, while compatriot Chala Ketema Regasa smashed the course record at the IAAF Bronze Label event on Sunday (13).

The pre-race publicity for the Airtel Delhi Half Marathon 2018 focused on a duel between Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Dibaba and Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgogei, quite rightly considering their careers and 2018 racing records, but Dibaba’s compatriot Tsehay Gemechu hadn’t read the script and flew to a course record of 1:06:50 on Sunday (21).