Age has never defied a marathon runner - you only have to look back at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and think of Romania’s Constantina Dita. She was 38 and took gold in emphatic style in 2:26:44.
Latvia’s Jelena Prokopcuka is a year younger but is turning into a strong favourite ahead of the 2014 European Athletics Championships in Zurich.
Seven years after winning the New York City Marathon for the second time, Prokopcuka produced one of the performances of her career to finish third in New York on Sunday.
In a race run in windy and chilly weather, Prokopcuka was third in 2:27:47 as Kenya’s Priscah Jeptoo won in 2:25:07 - taking the World Marathon Majors title at the same time - with Ethiopian Bizunesh Daba second in 2:25:56.
Equally impressive in fourth was France’s Christelle Daunay, 39.
She is the French record holder with 2:24:22 from the Paris Marathon in 2010 and in this race, her first over the distance in two years, she ran 2:28:14.
Most European specialists were focused on how Italian Valeria Straneo - also 37 - would fare, after taking silver at the IAAF World Championships in Moscow over the summer.
Straneo completed the European hegemony finishing fifth in 2:28:22, while Kenya's double world champion Edna Kiplagat was only ninth in 2:30:04.
But on this major marathon scene, it was Prokopcuka who got all the attention.
Her face beamed out from the pictures as the top three posed on the podium.
While Jeptoo and Daba were always going to be strong, Prokopcuka led the impressive European trio behind her.
This battle for European supremacy could make for a fascinating race should they all decide to compete at the 2014 European Athletics Championships in Zurich.
Adding to the intrigue was Germany’s Sabrina Mockenhaupt, who was seventh in 2:29:10, inside the qualifying standard for the European Championships.
Prokopcuka has not won a marathon since 2006 in Kuldiga, but had showed signs of her return to world-class form in Nagoya in March where she placed fourth in 2:25:46.
In the men’s race, the top European was Italy’s Daniele Meucci who was 10th in a personal best of 2:12:03.
Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai successfully defended his title in 2:08:24 from Ethiopian Tsegaye Kebede, second in 2:09:16, and Lusapho April, of South Africa, third in 2:09:45.
Former European Athletics 3,000m steeplechase silver medallist, Bouabdellah Tahri, completed his first career marathon in 2:18:16, finishing in 15th place.
THE WEEK JUST GONE
One where here at European Athletics we launched our new exciting website, in a week where Berlin was named as the host city for the 2018 European Athletics Championships.
THE WEEK AHEAD
It is a week that ends with one of the most historic races in the sport’s calendar - the Athens Classic Marathon. And it is of course full of such poignancy with the event finishing in the Panathinaiko Stadium, the venue of the first Olympic Games in 1896.
COMING NEXT
Nov 8 - Diana race (Yambol, Bulgaria)
Nov 10 - Marathon des Alpes-Maritimes Nice-Cannes (Nice)
Nov 10 - Campo a Traves Internacional de Soria (Soria)
Nov 10 - Athens Classic Marathon
IN BRIEF
- In Mol, Fionnuala Britton, of Ireland, won over 4,700m in 15.40 ahead of Switzerland’s Fabienne Schlumpf, second in 15.59, and Belgium’s Veerle Dejaeghere, third in 16:19.
The win shows how Britton has not lost her form despite a summer of illness, as she heads towards the SPAR European Cross Country Championships in Belgrade in December, chasing a hat-trick of titles.
- Inna Kashyna, with a personal best of 45:43.2 and Ihor Lyashchenko, in 40:26.9, won the 10,000m race walking Ukrainian National Cup and International race walk at the Karpaty’s Cup.
- Stella Akakpo, 19, the European junior 100m champion, is training in Formia, Italy, in preparation for next year’s indoor season.