Addisu Gobena breaks Sydney Marathon record as Peres Jepchirchir wins women’s race

Ethiopia’s Addisu Gobena shattered the men’s course record to win the Sydney Marathon, and Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir took the women’s title, at the Sydney Marathon on Sunday. Gobena clocked 2:04:42 while Jepchirchir finished the women’s race in 2:18:31.

The race took place on a hilly harbourside course that drew about 40,000 competitors from around the world. Gobena, 21, who had been a javelin thrower until 2023, finished more than a minute and a half quicker than the previous course record of 2:06:06. The top seven finishers in the men’s race were all inside last year’s record time.

Gobena and compatriot Chimdessa Debele Gudeta broke from a lead pack of six inside the final two kilometres, and Gobena pulled clear on the downhill approach to the Sydney Opera House to win by four seconds. Lesotho’s Tebello Ramakongoana finished third in 2:04:57, with last year’s winner Hailemaryam Kiros among the top seven inside the previous record.

“I am very happy. Last year I came second, I learned from my mistake, and I went back home and I worked on my mistake to perform and break the record today,” said Gobena through an interpreter. He had been runner-up to Kiros in last year’s race and celebrated by punching the air after crossing the line.

Jepchirchir broke the women’s field early and extended her lead to win by more than three minutes in 2:18:31, finishing nine seconds behind Sifan Hassan’s mark set in last year’s event. The Kenyan added the Sydney title to previous victories in Boston, New York and London, while compatriot Irene Chepet Cheptai was second in 2:22:11 and Shure Demise Ware of Ethiopia was third a further 22 seconds back.

In the wheelchair races Daniel Romanchuk won the men’s event in a course record 1:26:50 to claim his first Sydney Marathon men’s title, and Britain’s David Weir was second in 1:31:33 with Luo Xingchuan of China two seconds further back. “I wasn’t sure what to expect throughout … I decided to put in a test surge and see what response I got, and I just decided I made a little bit of space, I’ll see if I can hold it, and I was able to hold it,” Romanchuk said.

Switzerland’s Manuela Schär won the women’s wheelchair race in a record 1:42:04, with Britain’s Eden Rainbow-Cooper more than five minutes behind in second and Tatyana McFadden of the United States third. “I haven’t had the best start to the season. I’m getting older, and it’s getting harder, and this is really surprising, and I’m really emotional,” Schar said about her margin of victory.

Organisers acknowledged a design error after medals intended to feature a Sydney landmark were instead etched with Munich’s Allianz Arena.

The Sydney Marathon was staged in its second year as a World Marathon Major, joining New York, London, Berlin, Boston, Tokyo and Chicago on the elite events list.