Betsy Saina Runs Personal Best to Repeat as Marugame Half Marathon Winner

By Adam Kopet

Betsy Saina won her second straight Marugame Half Marathon on Sunday in Japan. The former Bowerman Track Club athlete from Kenya did so in a personal-best 1:07:49.

Kicked off my season today with a PB! Excited to head back for more training before the big race @bostonmarathon! Grateful for the opportunity @NikeRunning @MaurtenOfficial #MarugameHalf pic.twitter.com/XrV5AN7t0s

— Betsy Saina (@bcsaina) February 3, 2019

Saina has moved to the roads after finishing fifth in the 10,000 meters at the 2016 Olympics. Her earliest attempts at the marathon resulted in not finishing, but she finally put it all together last year when she won the Paris Marathon in 2:22:56.

Saina's performance in Marugame was an improvement of 1:28 over her winning time last year and it was the third-fastest time ever run on the course. She won by six seconds over Ayuko Suzuki of Japan.

Saina is scheduled to race the Boston Marathon in April.

The men's race was won by Abdi Nageeye, as he took 46 seconds off the Dutch national record. He overtook Simon Kariuki of Kenya in the final kilometers of the race to win by 19 seconds.

The IAAF has a full event recap by Ken Nakamura.