Ethiopia’s Getaneh Molla produced the fastest marathon debut in history to win the Dubai Marathon, while Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich moved up to third on the women’s world all-time list at the IAAF Gold Label road race on Friday.
In ideal weather conditions, Molla’s winning time of 2:03:34 was the first sub-2:04 time in Dubai. The Ethiopian improved the former course record by 26 seconds and became the sixth-fastest marathon runner ever.
Second-placed Herpassa Negasa was close behind with 2:03:40, which makes him the eighth-fastest runner in history. Asefa Mengstu completed an all-Ethiopian podium with 2:04:24 for third place.
In a fascinating women’s race, Chepngetich achieved the third-fastest time in history with 2:17:08. Only Britain’s world record-holder Paula Radcliffe (2:15:25) and Kenya’s Mary Keitany (2:17:01) have ever ran faster.
The 24-year-old Chepngetich took more than two minutes off the course record of 2:19:17 and became the first Kenyan woman since 2006 to win in Dubai.
With a time of 2:17:41, second-placed Worknesh Degefa broke Tirunesh Dibaba’s Ethiopian record by 15 seconds and became the fourth-fastest runner ever. The only other race where two women have broken 2:18 previously was in London in 2017.
Ethiopia’s Workenesh Edesa of Ethiopia took third place with 2:21:05.
Source: ANA|COMPATRIOT MAGAZINE