Italiano
The group of elite men on the front line soon took the lead. Four Kenyans and an Italian broke away from the rest of the runners by a hundred meters; after a while the group was reduced to four: Paul Kariuki Mwangi, Philip Kibungei Tarbei, Michael Kipkemboi Chelule and Eliud Mwangi Macharia.
From the sixth kilometer the group was reduced to three athletes and a few minutes later only Eliud Mwangi and Philip Kibungei, both part of RunCzech Racing, ran well below the course record. The two crossed the tenth kilometer in an unofficial time of 28:35, a pace that, if they maintained, would bring them in under 61 minutes, but the climbs and a light wind slowed the athletes in the second half of the race.
The two in the lead fought to the last meter with a thrilling sprint to the finish, ending with both men having the same time of 1:01:21. Philip Kibungei was the winner in what was his debut in Europe at this distance.
Following were Paul Mwangi and Michael Chelule, and then a third group with Bernard Dematteis, Italian, and Roman Prodius, Moldovan.
Michael Chelule fell behnd towards the end and Mwangi came in third with four minutes behind the leader. Dematteis and Prodius worked together to earn the fourth and fifth place respectively.
The women’s race was marked by an almost dominant performance by Eve Vrabcová, the Czech Olympian, also part of RunCzech Racing, who has the distinction of participating in the Summer Olympics in the marathon and in the Winter Olympics in cross-country skiing, began with a record pace from the start. Laila Soufyane, the Italian half marathon champion, had hoped to race beside her to fight for the victory, fell behind after a few kilometers. Vrabcová ran with personal best time for the first 10 kilometers, 32:38, slowing only at the hilly point in the second half of the course, finishing in 1:11:54, while Soufyane came in under the previous record of the race with 1:14:11.