Ethiopian athletes clinched the Gold medals in both the Women's and Men's sections in Delhi Half Marathon today. Current woman world athlete of the year Almaz Ayana claimed the honours in the women's event, while her Ethiopian compatriot Berhanu Legese hogged the limelight by winning the men's event as thousands of Delhiites turned up despite concerns of air pollution.Ayana, who set the 10,000 metre world record while winning the gold in Rio Olympics, emerged champion in her maiden half marathon race today clocking one hour, seven minutes and 11 seconds. Ethiopians ran away with all three top positions in the elite women's race with Ababel Yeshaneh coming second and Netsanet Gudeta following in third position covering the 21.097 kilometre distance. Defending champion Worknesh Degefa was fifth. In the men's elite race, 2015 winner Legese bagged the gold in 59 minutes and 46 seconds, while another Ethiopian Anadamlak Belihu was second in 59:51. Leonard Korir of United States was third in 59:52. Reiging world marathon champion Geoffrey Kirui of Kenya finished sixth. Both Ayana and Legese pocketed identical 27,000 US dollars as winners' prize money. Among the Indian women, L Suriya bagged the gold in a course record (for Indians) time of 1 hour, 10 minutes, 31 seconds. Veteran long distance runner Sudha Singh was Second while Parul Choudhary was Third. Nitendra Singh Rawat won Indian men's race, clocking a new course record time of 1 hour, 03 minutes and 53 seconds in a dramatic photo finish with G Lakshmanan who also clocked the same time but got the silver when the timing was broken down to decimal seconds. 21-year-old Maharashtra runner Avinash Sable was third. The men's and women's winners among the Indians pocketed an identical Rs 3 lakh each. The second place finishers collected 2.5 lakh rupees each, while third place finishers got 1.75 lakh rupees each. Besides that, the three men's podium finishers shared Rs 2 lakh among themselves for bettering the course record. Suriya, the sister of Lakshmanan, got an additional Rs 2 lakh for bettering the course record.Meanwhile, tens of thousands of runners braved the chilly weather — around 15 degree Celcius when the men's elite race started at 6:40 am. Besides participating in the elite category, runners also took part in four categories of Great Delhi Run, Timed 10K Run, Senior Citizens Run and Champions with Disability Run. The pollution level in the city got better after the early morning rain yesterday. The Delhi Half Marathon is one of the top half marathons in the world.