Ethiopian duo Milkesa Mengesha and Tigist Ketema yesterday won the men’s and women’s races respectively in the 50th running of the Berlin Marathon.
Mengesha finished just five seconds ahead of Kenyan Kotut in 2 hours, 3 minutes 17 seconds, with both recording personal bests. The time was not yet official as of press time last night.
The times were outside the late Kelvin Kiptum’s world record of 2:00.35 and five-time Berlin winner Eliud Kipchoge’s course record of 2:01.09, set in 2022.
Photo: EPA-EFE
Ketema, who ran her first marathon earlier this year, won in an as yet unofficial time of 2:16.42. Ketema’s time was just less than 5 minutes slower than training partner Tigist Assefa’s world record of 2:11.53, but is the third-best winning time among the women in Berlin Marathon history.
With the Paris Olympics just more than a month ago, many of the big names were missing from the starting blocks, including Kipchoge, who has broken the world mark twice in the German capital.
The leading men’s group broke away early, setting a strong pace over the first 10km of 28:42, just outside world record time, but slowed gradually in sunny conditions.
Just before the 40km mark, four men pulled away from the pack: Mengesha, Kotut, Haymanot Alew and Stephen Kiprop. With the Brandenburg Gate in sight, Mengesha and Kotut distanced themselves from the chasers and were neck and neck until the Ethiopian edged ahead in the final meters.
Alongside fellow Ethiopian Azmera Gebru, Ketema opened up an early lead over the rest of the pack, pulling away after 5km. Just before the halfway mark, Ketema began to pull away from Gebru, opening up a 12-second lead. Ketema continued to pull away from her compatriot, eventually crossing the line 2 minutes, 6 seconds ahead of second-placed Mestawot Fikir.
The 26-year-old Ketema is a newcomer to marathons, having run her first in January in Dubai. Although it was unofficial, her time of 2:16.07 was the best ever recorded by a debutant, showing she belongs at this level.
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