Hawi Feysa took the 41st Mainova Frankfurt Marathon with a superb course record: The 25 year-old Ethiopian ran 2:17:25 to improve the previous women’s record by 1:45. It was also the 12th fastest performance this year.
Second-placed Kenyan Magdalyne Masai ran a big personal best of 2:18:58 and also finished inside the former course record of 2:19:10. Ethiopia’s Shuko Genemo was third with 2:22:37.
The men’s race had its surprise as well: the 22 year-old Kenyan debutant Benard Biwott triumphed to cross the line in 2:05:54 in Frankfurt’s Festhalle.
The Ethiopians Gossa Challa and Lencho Tesfaye took second and third with 2:07:35 and 2:08:02 respectively.
The combined winning times of the women’s and men’s champions came to 4:23:19, the fastest aggregate time ever in the history of the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon.
“To have such as fantastic course record is so satisfying for all of us involved. You can prepare a great deal in elite sport but nothing is guaranteed. We had ideal conditions, many personal bests and many wonderful scenes of celebration at the finish,” said the Race Director Jo Schindler.
The Elite Race Coordinator Philipp Kopp added his thoughts: “Once again we’ve shown that you can run fast in Frankfurt.”
The Mainova Frankfurt Marathon had 13,939 runners from 113 countries. Adding events at shorter distances, the total was 25,616 athletes.
Women’s Race: Feysa’s breakthrough, Schwiening fastest European
Hawi Feysa achieved a sensational breakthrough in the marathon by running 2:17:25.
The Ethiopian had shown highly creditable performances at shorter distances and finished sixth in the World Cross Country Championships in 2023. Winning the marathon in a course record took her to a new level.
“The record was my goal and everything went perfectly. After 25 kilometres I had enough energy left to run away from the group. I was very happy with my race plan. The atmosphere along the course helped me a lot. You can certainly run 2:16 on this fast course,” Hawi Feysa reflected.
Right from the start the fastest runners set out to make a concerted attack on the course record of 2:19:10. Although no runner had a personal best faster than 2:21:17, the pace was consistently aimed at breaking the record.
“I wanted originally to run at my own pace alone at the head of the field. But the organizers planned that we ran together as a group until 25 kilometres. The tactic proved very good,” said Feysa, in praise of sporting director Philipp Kopp.
Five women went through halfway in 69:19, among them Hawi Feysa and the two sisters, Magdalyne and Linet Masai from Kenya. When Feysa increased the pace after 25 kilometres, only Magdalyne Masai followed her.
Until just before 40 km, Masai was still in contention with the gap a few seconds. But Hawi Feysa proved unbeatable and ran a clearly faster second half of the race to finish in triumph in the Festhalle. Magdalyne Masai was a highly creditable second in 2:18:58.
While it was the first time that two women ran below 2:20 in Frankfurt a large number of elite runners achieved personal bests: Four women from the top 5 and six from the top 10 ran PBs.
British runners achieved a string of great results in Frankfurt: Georgina Schwiening was the fastest European with a strong PB of 2:25:46 in eleventh place. A staggering number of seven British women finished inside the top 25 in the “Festhalle”.
Men’s Race: A day for the debutants
The men’s elite field, featuring talent spread evenly throughout, set off at a pace which made the target finishing time of under 2:05 a real possibility.
Split times of 29:38 for 10km and 44:30 at 15km pointed to a time in the region of just under 2:05. Subsequently the pace dropped somewhat, despite the excellent weather conditions with temperatures between 12 and 15 degrees, overcast and almost no win.
With a number of kilometre splits around 3 minutes, halfway was reached in 62:52. For much of the time, the 13-strong leading group then stayed compact and there was little change.
The first serious attack came only after 30 km but it proved decisive: Benard Biwott went to the front and only Gossa Challa proved capable of going with the marathon debutant.
But when the Kenyan forced the pace again between 35 and 37 kilometres and covered the single kilometres in around 2:50, the Ethiopian had no reply.
Biwott, who previously had shown highly promising form at half marathon, achieving a best of 59:44, won with over a minute and a half to spare.
“I’m so happy because I didn’t expect that I could win on my debut. I want to thank the organizers and my manager Gianni Demadonna for their support,” said Bernard Biwott who had achieved a rare win here on debut.
The last occasion in the men’s race in Frankfurt was in 2008 when a fellow Kenyan, Robert Cheruiyot, won in what was then a course record of 2:07:21.
To add to the surprises, a marathon debutant was also the fastest runner from Germany in the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon. Jan Lukas Becker finished 17th in 2:15:20 and had been on course for a finishing time of under 2:11 for much of the race.
Selected Results
Men:
- Benard Biwott KEN 2:05:54
- Gossa Challe ETH 2:07:35
- Lencho Tesfaye ETH 2:08:02
- Gerba Dibaba ETH 2:09:03
- Aychew Dessie ETH 2:09:22
- Workneh Serbessa ETH 2:09:30
- Christopher Muthini KEN 2:09:31
- Ebba Chala SWE 2:09:35
- Tim Vincent AUS 2:09:40
- Mulat Gebeyehu ETH 2:10:07
Women:
- Hawi Feysa ETH 2:17:25
- Magdalyne Masai KEN 2:18:58
- Shuko Genemo ETH 2:22:37
- Catherine Cherotich KEN 2:22:42
- Agnes Keino KEN 2:22:53
- Kidsan Alema ETH 2:23:27
- Linet Masai KEN 2:23:52
- Judith Kiyeng KEN 2:24:41
- Betty Chepkwony KEN 2:25:13
- Aberash Korsa ETH 2:25:43
