Ethiopians dominate with winning times of 2:03:17 and 2:16:42 as Brits Calli Hauger-Thackery and Phily Bowden run big PBs
In a race bereft of well-known stars such as Eliud Kipchoge, Tigist Assefa, Sifan Hassan and Kenenisa Bekele, it was Milkesa Mengesha and Tigist Ketema who made a name for themselves in the 50th Berlin Marathon on Sunday (Sept 29).
The Ethiopian duo completed a great day for their country with runners from the east African nation filling three of the top five places in the men’s race and sweeping the top four places in the women’s category.
Mengesha surged away from Cybrian Kotut of Kenya in the final half mile to win by five seconds in 2:03:17 as Haymanot Alew of Ethiopia was third in 2:03:31 and Stephen Kiprop of Kenya fourth in 2:03:37.
On Berlin’s famously fast course, the men cruised through 5km in 14:25 and 10km in 28:42 before passing halfway in 60:57. There were still nine men in the lead group at 35km and these included Kibiwott Kandie, the former world half-marathon record-holder, although he was soon among those to get dropped, eventually finishing 13th. Similarly, Tadese Takele, another pre-race favourite, faded to seventh in the latter stages in 2:05:13 as Mengesha up ahead went from strength to strength.
Milkesha Mengesha (Getty)
“I had to stop at 38km in London Marathon earlier this year so I was worried about that happening again here,” said Mengesha. “But I had prepared well so everything was okay. I had the chance to run Chicago (Oct 14) but I knew the course was very fast in Berlin so I’m pleased I chose to run here.”
Only five years ago Mengesha won the world under-20 cross-country title on a gruelling course in Aarhus, Denmark. Among the runners behind him that day was Jakob Ingebrigtsen – the Norwegian finishing an exhausted 12th.
The 24-year-old ran 2:05:29 on his marathon debut in Valencia in 2022, then 2:10:43 to place sixth the World Champs in Budapest in 2023, plus a DNF in London this year, before enjoying this breakthrough victory in Berlin.
Women’s winner Ketema began her running career as an 800m runner. The 26-year-old won bronze over that distance at the 2016 World Under-20 Championships in Poland and clocked 2:02.00 the following year, but she began to move on to the roads and in 2022 won the Great Ethiopian Run 10km – a right of passage for many up-and-coming runners from Ethiopia – and in 2023 she acted as a pacemaker in Faith Kipyegon’s world 5000m record run in Paris.
CLICK HERE to Read the Full Original Article at AW…