The 46th Zurich Barcelona Marathon saw new course records for men and women on Sunday with Tesfaye Deriba Ketema and Sharon Chelimo recording times of 2:04:13 and 2:19:33 respectively.
For the fifth consecutive year, the men’s record at the Zurich Marató Barcelona – a World Athletics Gold Label road race – was broken.
Sharon Chelimo made her decisive move in the final 10km. She passed the 10km mark in 33:17 and reached halfway in 1:10:00, on pace for a 2:20 finish. The 30-year-old Kenyan, with a previous best of 2:22:07, aimed to break 2:20, increasing her speed in the second half.
After passing 30km in 1:39:49, she took the lead and widened the gap. She finished in 2:19:33, beating her personal best by over two minutes and the course record by 11 seconds.
Ethiopia’s Yebrgual Melese finished second in 2:20:47, with Kenya’s Linet Masai third in 2:21:01.
“I wasn’t expecting the record,” said Chelimo after the race. “I wanted to beat my personal best, but I felt really good and I did even better in the end.”
The men’s race was tighter, but Tesfaye Ketema won comfortably in 2:04:13, 48 seconds under last year’s course record.
Kenya’s Cornelius Kibet Kiplagat took second in 2:04:54, followed by Enock Onchari in 2:05:20.
“I am very happy because today I achieved my goal. To win in Barcelona and set a new course record,” Ketema said after the race.
Organized by Barcelona City Council and RPM Sports, the race set a participation record and achieved new milestones in female participation (25%), with over 6,500 marathoners, one in four being women, and 60% international runners from 109 nationalities.
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