Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Zersenay Tadese scored his third consecutive win at the World Half Marathon Championships, with relative ease, becoming the first three-time victor in the history of the championships. Renowned for his aggressive front-running, Tadese led a group of 13 athletes through 5km in 14:06 but the Eritrean increased the tempo in the second 5km split, breaking away from the leading pack with a 13:49 5km split to pass through 10km in 27:55 and 28-seconds ahead of his challengers. By 15km, Tadese increased his advantage to 15km (1:32) and by 20km, the former Olympic bronze medalist was over two-minutes ahead of Kenyans Patrick Makau and Stephen Kibiwott. Tadese stormed home to his third consecutive title, clocking a very impressive 59:56, which was surprising considering the hot conditions. Makau, last year’s silver medalist, retained that medal (61:54), three-seconds ahead of Qatari Ahmed Hassan Abdullah. Former New York Marathon winner Marilson Gomes dos Santos was the first Brazilian finisher, placing eighth (63:14).