Megertu Alemu takes women’s victory in 2:16:49 on a day that sees a spate of national records and PBs just weeks after the city was hit with disastrous floods
Until now, Sabastian Sawe has excelled in the half-marathon with a best time of 58:05 and a world title in 2023.
Great half-marathon performances don’t always translate into a top-class marathon, but Sawe showed in Valencia on Sunday (Dec 1) that he can definitely go the distance.
The 28-year-old Kenyan surged clear of his rivals in the closing kilometres to run 2:02:05 on his debut at 26.2 miles. Runner-up Deresa Geleta of Ethiopia clocked 2:02:38 with Daniel Mateiko of Kenya finishing a tired third in 2:04:23.
The performance places Sawe No.5 on the world all-time rankings and is the fastest time of 2024. After the race, he praised the organisers for getting the race back on track following the catastrophic torrential rain and flooding in late October, which led to more than 200 deaths and billions of dollars of damage.
Megertu Alemu of Ethiopia won the women’s race in 2:16:49. Such are the spate of fast times in the super-shoes era, however, she said she was disappointed she didn’t go even faster. Behind, runner-up Stella Chesang clocked a Ugandan record of 2:18:26.
Valencia Marathon (Getty)
Alice Wright was top British woman in a PB of 2:28:48 with Dan Nash the leading British man home in 2:13:02. The race once again featured a flurry of incredible times, with 10 men inside 2:05 and the top 30 running sub-2:10 whereas 14 women were inside 2:25.
National records included Tadesse Abraham of Switzerland, running his final marathon aged 42, with 2:04:40, Maru Teferi of Israel with 2:04:45 and Samwel Fitwi of Germany running 2:04:56 just ahead of one of the pre-race favourites, Sisay Lemma of Ethiopia.
Yohannes Chiappinelli clocked an Italian record of 2:05:24. Richard Ringer, the 2022 European champion from Germany, improved his best to 2:05:47.
Australian athletes were in form, too, with Andy Buchanan running a national record of 2:06:22 – the first Australian to break the 2:07 barrier – while Isobel Batt-Doyle excelled in the women’s race with 2:22:59 for eighth place.
A couple of months after turning 40, Fionnuala McCormack of Ireland ran a PB of 2:23:46 in 11th. Just ahead, Moira Stewartova ran a Czech record of 2:23:44 and Sara Hall of the United States, 41, ran 2:23:45.
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