You can watch a live stream of the 2021 N Kolay Istanbul Half Marathon on Sunday, April 4, as several Olympic hopefuls continue their preparations for the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan later this summer. The Istanbul Half Marathon is a World Athletics Elite Label road race.
Where To Watch 2021 N Kolay Istanbul Half Marathon
Live stream of Sunday’s race is available via the race organizers’ YouTube channel with the coverage set for iBB Sport Istanbul and TRT sports 2. The race is slated for 10:00 am local time / 3:00 am ET.
It is understood that this year’s event will feature the strongest ever field that has been assembled in the 16-year history of the race so we should brace for something special. Headlining the list of athletes who will feature on Sunday are reigning world half-marathon, record-holder, Kibiwott Kandie of Kenya, and his fellow countryman Geoffrey Kamworor who held the previous world record.
Kandie led three other men below the previous world best in Valencia in early December last year when he ran 57:32. Kamworor, who is back to competing again after recovering from a freak incident in which he was hit from behind by a motorcycle during a training run and suffered a fractured tibia, had set the previous record of 58:01 in Copenhagen in September 2019.
With such a strong lineup assembled for Sunday’s Istanbul Half Marathon, the organizers expect both Kandie and Kamworor to seriously challenge the race record of 59:50, which was held by Amdework Walelegn of Ethiopia in 2018. Walelegn is returning to challenge for another title in Istanbul this year, along with Ugandan Stephen Kissa and Kenya’s Leonard Barsoton.
Strong Field Also Put Together For Women Too…
A competitive women’s field has also been assembled and it will be headlined by marathon world record-holder Brigid Kosgei of Kenya who owns a personal best of 1:04:49, and is the third-best performer on the half-marathon all-time list. Kosgei owns the fastest ever half marathon clocking at 1:04:28, but her time was done at the Great North Run in 2019 and that course isn’t eligible for records.
Melat Kejeta of Germany, Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya, home favorite Yasemin Can and Ethiopian Yalemzerf Yehualaw, the second-fastest women half-marathon runner in history, are all confirmed for the race.
The women’s Istanbul Half Marathon record is 1:05:30.
