Elite Men at CIM 2024: Weldlibanos Runs Away With It

• Tsegay Weldlibanos won the Elite Men's race in 2:07:34 (4:52/mi), finishing 2:32 clear of runner-up CJ Albertson — the largest gap on the podium.
• CJ Albertson held 2nd from wire to wire, clocking 2:10:06, while Nick Hauger stormed from 7th at 5K to claim 3rd in 2:11:54 with the 2nd-fastest second-half split in the men's field.
• Robert Miranda (2:12:07) and Tai Smith (2:13:26) rounded out the top five — Smith charging from 13th at 5K to 4th by halfway before settling into 5th.
• The top-20 spread spanned just 9:17, from Weldlibanos's 2:07:34 down to Nelson Oyugi's 2:16:51, in a 42-man elite field racing through mild Sacramento conditions.

Tsegay Weldlibanos, the 28-year-old Flagstaff-based runner, never relinquished the lead — he sat 1st at every checkpoint from the opening 5K through the finish line. More than that, he was visibly the sharpest man on the road early, posting the fastest split in the men's field between 5K and 10K. By the time the race was truly decided, his 4:52/mi average had put two and a half minutes between himself and everyone else. That's not a victory — it's a statement.

Behind him, the real drama unfolded in the chase. Albertson was steady and composed, locked in at 2nd from start to finish and closing the final 2.2K with the fastest men's split from 40K to the line. He may not have threatened Weldlibanos, but he made sure no one threatened him. Hauger, meanwhile, ran the most aggressive race of the podium — sitting 7th at 5K, he methodically climbed through the field and unleashed the 2nd-fastest second-half split among the men to secure 3rd in 2:11:54.

Miranda and Smith added further intrigue to the top five. Miranda was aggressive early — sitting 3rd by the halfway point — before fading slightly to 4th and ultimately 4th at the line in 2:12:07, backed by the 2nd-fastest Half-to-25K split in the field. Smith's trajectory was the wildest of the group: 13th at 5K, 4th by halfway, and 5th at the finish in 2:13:26, having posted the 3rd-fastest 10K-to-15K split among the men. In a race Weldlibanos controlled from the front, it was the chasers who gave the Elite Men's field its most compelling story.