Eilish McColgan demolished her own British half-marathon record to claim victory at the Berlin Half.
The Dundonian stormed from second at midway to power past Tsigie Gebreselama and win in 65 minutes and 43 seconds. It knocked 43 seconds off her previous mark with her Ethiopian rival ending up 30 seconds adrift and fellow Britons Sam Harrison and Calli Thackery coming fourth and sixth.
It was the perfect final tune-up ahead of the 32-year-old’s marathon debut in London in three weeks.
McColgan said: “It was little bit breezy, a little bit cold. I’m used to that weather. The pace at the start was super quick and I panicked a little bit going through 10km. I was like: ‘uh-oh, we’re in trouble here’.
“But I’m really happy with that. I felt really strong on the second half. I think I got a little bit of cramp on the last kilometre. Hopefully it’s just cramp. I’m just glad to make it to the finish and get a national record. Berlin was the scene of my first European medal on the track so it’s nice to be back here.”
Fellow Scot Derek Hawkins was 38th in the men’s race in 1:05.16 – his quickest time since 2019 – as Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe eased to victory in 59 minutes exactly.
