On athletes entered podiums of the world across multiple disciplines and from Brisbane, Australia, to Berlin, Germany, this weekend.
Tsigie Gebreselama and Dominic Lobalu spearhead On efforts at Berlin Half Marathon
About 36,000 participants and an elite field that included big names promised a lot of action for this year’s edition of the Berlin Half Marathon. Much like its marathon counterpart in autumn, the Berlin half-marathon has seen fast times in the past, with the course records standing at 65:02 for women (Sheila Kiprotich Chepkirui in 2022) and 58:42 for men (Eric Kiptanui in 2018) and the event did not disappoint.
Team On was represented by seven athletes in total: Tsigie Gebreselama, Dominic Lobalu, Zerei Kbrom Mezngi, Tom Gröschel, Patrick Kipngeno, Simon Dudi Ekidor, and Morgan Le Guen. Especially Gebreselama and Lobalu impressed with their strong performances as they finished second and fourth, respectively.
After leading the race for a long time in blustery, difficult conditions, Tsigie Gebreselama was not rewarded for her work as she wasn’t able to withstand a late attack by Britain’s Eilish McColgan. Still, the young Ethiopian crossed the finish line in 1:06.13 but wasn’t far off her personal best of 1:05:46 set in Valencia last year.
On the men’s side, a leading group was out to break the course record, and On athletes Dominic Lobalu and Zerei Kbrom Mezngi were in the mix for a good while until Mezngi had to let go of the group first. Lobalu was able to hang on a little longer but was ultimately unable to match the speed of winner Sebastian Sawe from Kenya, who only narrowly missed the course record and finished in 0:59.01.
Lobalu finished in a strong fourth position in 1:00:17, while Mezngi trailed him by 22 seconds to finish fifth in 1:00:39. Morgan Le Guen completed good team results on position 12 (1:01:55), Simon Ekidor was 13th (1:02:12) and Tom Gröschel 28th (1:04:21).
Chelsea Sodaro returns strong with second place at Ironman Oceanside 70.3, Findlay fifth
On triathletes on start at the Ironman 70.3 Oceanside in California included Paula Findlay (CAN) and reigning Ironman World Champion Chelsea Sodaro (USA) in her first race since her Kona triumph. After the swim portion of the event, Sodaro and Findlay had been in promising fifth and third positions with a delay of one and a half minutes on swim leader Holly Lawrence. A strong bike ride put them both in contention for a great result with intermediate positions two and four, +0:04 and +0:21 behind bike leader Kat Matthews. Strong runner Chelsea Sodaro surged forward in the final running race to overtake Findlay and Matthews but had to concede defeat to Canada’s Tamara Jewett, the strongest runner of the day, who claimed the win. Sodaro finished in second, +1:21 behind Jewett, while Findlay concluded her day just off the podium on rank five after a tough running portion.
Ben Buckingham and Claudia Hollingsworth take Australian national titles in Brisbane
On Friday, OAC Oceania’s Ben Buckingham took his first-ever Australian title with a bold move in the final kilometer of the Men’s 3000m Steeplechase. Buckingham fended off reigning champion Matthew Clarke and crossed the line in a time of 8:40.52 after a slower pace in the opening laps.
On the same day, OAC Oceania teammate Claudia Hollingsworth won in the under 20 800m finals. She took the victory in 2:04.24 and with a clear margin to runner-up Sayla Donelley, who claimed the silver in 2:05.91. But Hollingsworth was not done yet. In the U20 1500m finals two days later, she repeated her strong performance and finished first yet again, this time in 4:19.17 and two seconds ahead of Donelley.
Header image: Tsigie Gebreselama finished second at Berlin Half Marathon. Credit: On
