This Sunday, Samuel Barata broke the national half marathon record, becoming the first Portuguese to break time by completing the distance in 59.40 minutes in Valencia, Spain.
This took Barata, who finished 14th in Valencia, more than a minute off the previous best national performance, which belonged to Luís Jesus, since 1997, when he ran in 1:00.56 hours.
On October 1, Samuel Barata had already set the second best Portuguese time ever at the World Half Marathon Championships in Riga, with a time of 1:01.29 hours.
The month before, measuring errors in Brasov, Romania, had prevented the national road records of 5,000 meters and 10,000 meters from being achieved by the Benfica athlete, who had already expressed a desire to qualify for the marathon at the Olympic Games.
In a race won by Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie (57.40 minutes), Rui Pinto finished 27th in 1:02.24 hours, eight seconds off his personal best.
Source: DN
