(Watch the complete Mattoni Olomouc Half Marathon with English commentary above)

OLOMOUC, Czech Republic -- As RunCzech Racing teammates Josphat Kiptis and Kenneth Keter approached the final hairpin turn on the course, Kiptis sensed an opportunity.

After more than 14 kilometers of cooperation, he knew it was time to pounce.

With a subtle surge around the curve at the far end of Smetana Gardens, the 23-year-old was able to shake free of his 20-year-old fellow Kenyan and continued to pull away for his second victory in three years at the Mattoni Olomoic Half Marathon here in sweltering eastern Moravia.

"I felt great on the course," Kiptis, the first two-time winner of the eight-year-old IAAF Gold Label race. "Kenneth and I both managed to get ahead of the rest and I was then able to edge past him. I'm really happy with the result."

In the women's race, it was Ethiopian Worknesh Degefa making the decisive move on compatriot Netsanet Gudeta at just a slightly later point on the course but before exiting the Gardens before pulling away for an impressive victory in 1:09:19.

"I'm pleased I was able to run to my best ability and that it was enough to secure a win," the 26-year-old said.

For the second consecutive year, it was Mother Nature who served as the great equalizer as temperatures nearing 27C/81F wreaked havoc on the fields early. While the men's race did not get strung out before 4K like they did in 2016 when Olympian Stanley Biwott dropped the hammer on everyone early, it didn't take long for pre-race favorites like Great Britain's Callum Hawkins and Kenya's Felix Kandie and Simon Cheptot, all of whom entered with PRs under 61 minutes, to fall off the pace.

The heat also quickly took a toll on pacers Vedic Cheruiyot and Boniface Kongin, who were physically unable to take the runners deep into the race. That left Keter, who has paced the Venlo Marathon and Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon among others, dictating the tempo. He was, at times, quite animated in giving direction and encouraging surrounding runners to assume some of the workload, but none ever did.

Before long, Keter had dropped everyone but Kiptis and Kenyan Amos Kurgat, and by 10K it was just the two RunCzech Racing teammates up front, running stride for stride. They continued to do so for almost a full five kilometers before Kiptis surged into the turn in the park and gapped Keter conclusively just before the 15K mark.

"I felt fit and well prepared," said Kiptis, a product of the famed St. Patrick's program in Iten founded by Brother Colm O'Connell in 1976. "Through 9K, Kenneth was running really strong and we were going fast. I decided to go at 15K because I felt good and knew I could go for it."

Keter wound up finishing second in 62:14 with Kurgat holding on for third in 63:21. A third RunCzech Racing Team member, Festus Talam, claimed the fourth position in 64:19. After falling off the pace quickly, leading Czech runner Jiri Homolac finished 10th in 66:29.

"I ran alone from the eighth kilometer onwards but I knew there were runners in front of me and was at least able to stay in contact that way," Homolac said. "The Olomouc race course is beautiful and the spectators are simply amazing. I think that given the right conditions, it might actually be a faster course than Prague, but you can never choose the weather."

Returning to the top of the podium was extra special for Kiptis, who set his half marathon PB of 60:21 in winning this race in 2015. After missing most of 2016 with an upper hamstring injury, Kiptis switched coaches this year -- he is now mentored by four-time Paralympic medalist Santiago Sanz of Spain -- and after the race said he was grateful to still have opportunities to compete at a high level.

"I'd like to thank the RunCzech Racing Team for their continued support," Kiptis said. "In 2016, I had injury problems, but they stuck with me and I couldn't have done it without them."



Unlike the men's race, the lead pack on the women's side held together a bit longer. But by 12K, the two Ethiopian favorites Degefa and Gudeta asserted their will on the field and dropped Kenyans Lucy Cheruiyot and Paulline Njeru as well as Rose Chelimo of Bahrain, who was runner-up in April's Boston Marathon.

For a short while it looked as if it would be Gudeta's day to shine as Degefa appeared to be struggling. Prior to the race, she admitted to having some pain in her hip joint, a problem that manifested itself during her victory in January's Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon and hampered her early this spring at the Istanbul Half Marathon.

But it turned out that it wasn't Degefa's hip at all that was posing a problem, but the fact that one of her socks had slid off partially at 12K and was causing a blister. Nevertheless, Degefa powered through and gapped Gudeta while exiting Smetana Gardens.

"I have been experiencing some muscle troubles in my hip joint but yesterday I was able to stretch it really good and that enabled me to push as hard as possible,"
Degefa said. "(Gudeta) was running alongside me but did not want to take the lead. Running with her was not my plan so I want to go, go, go so I pushed after 15K."

Gudeta wound up finishing in 70:03. Chelimo, who ran in fourth position most of the race, passed Cheruiyot in the final kilometers to take the final spot on the podium in 70:33, three seconds ahead of Cheruiyot.

Outside of Degefa's victory, perhaps the performance of day was turned in by Czech Olympian Eva Vrabcova-Nyvltova, who at one point early in the race was ahead of schedule to smash the national half marathon record. Although unable to maintain that pace, she did finish fifth in 72:01, just 55 seconds off her PR of 71:06, a remarkable time given the conditions.

"I felt really relaxed and had no idea I was running so fast early on," Vrabcova-Nyvltova said. "I made a mistake when I stopped at the refreshment stand at the third kilometer, I lost the pace I had been running in the first two kilometres and the runners I was with opened a five- to 10-meter lead. That cost me a few seconds and energy and it was too much. Suddenly, I was running alone, but I managed."