Sawe's teammate Brillian Kipkoech stuns Hamburg Marathon field to break course record
Reading Time: 3min | Mon. 27.04.26. | 17:13
Othmane El Goumri became the first Moroccan winner in the history of the event, breaking his own national record
Brillian Kipkoech crowned the 40th Haspa Marathon Hamburg with an unexpected course record of 2:17:05 in the women's race, smashing her personal best (PB) by almost seven minutes.
Fellow-Kenyan Rebecca Tanui, the favourite ahead of the race, was second with 2:18:25 as Ethiopia’s Kasanesh Ayenew took third in 2:19:39.
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A leading group of six runners initially formed after picking up the pace. Kipkoech, Tanui and Marion Kibor passed the half-marathon mark in 68:42, having already dropped their Ethiopian rivals.
Shortly afterwards, Kipkoech, who had entered the race with a PB of 2:23:56, broke away and then significantly extended her lead.
“I never thought I could break the course record. My goal was to beat my PB by a significant margin,” said the 31-year-old winner Kipkoech.
With her winning time of 2:17:05, she improved the four-year course record held by Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw (2:17:23) by 18 seconds.
With this time, Kipkoech, who trains in Kapsabet and belongs to the group of new marathon world record holder Sabastian Sawe, coached by Claudio Berardelli, is currently the seventh fastest marathon runner in the world this year.
Meanwhile, Othmane El Goumri became the first Moroccan winner in the history of the event when he broke his own national record, clocking 2:04:24, while Germany’s runner-up Samuel Fitwi achieved a rare national podium position in the men’s race. He improved his PB to 2:04:45.
It was back in 1999 when a German male runner last achieved a top-three position in Hamburg: Carsten Eich finished second.
Kenya’s Kennedy Kimutai finished third with 2:04:56.
After a relatively slow start with a 5km split time of 15:00, the pace in the men’s race picked up significantly. A very large group of around 20 runners stayed together deep into the race.
They first passed the half-marathon mark in 62:04 and then reached 30km in 1:28:35. More than 20 runners were on course for a finishing time of under 2:05:00 at that point.
It was not to be the day of two-time Hamburg winner Bernard Koech, though. The Kenyan suffered hamstring problems, lost contact with the leading group and eventually finished 15th in 2:08:10.
After an initial surge by Ethiopia’s Hunde Lechisa around seven kilometres from the finish, El Goumri, Fitwi and Kimutai closed the gap and passed Lechisa, who had to settle for fourth place.
El Goumri then pulled decisively away around two kilometres from the finish while Fitwi won the battle for second place. The fact that ten athletes ran under 2:06:00 showed the great depth of the race.
“My goal was to win the race. I actually wanted to run a bit faster and tried to push the pace a couple of times. But I am delighted with the Moroccan record,” said the 33-year-old, who ran his previous national record of 2:05:12 three years ago in Barcelona.
Fitwi produced what was probably the best race of his career so far. “It was perfect. I am very happy that I achieved my goals: a podium finish and a PB.
The course is really very fast, and the atmosphere was brilliant,” said the 30-year-old German, who previously had a PB of 2:04:56 and improved this by eleven seconds.
Results
Men:
1. Othmane El Goumri MAR 2:04:24
2. Samuel Fitwi GER 2:04:45
3. Kennedy Kimutai KEN 2:04:56
4. Hunde Lechisa ETH 2:05:01
5. Taresa Tolosa ETH 2:05:17
6. Mohamed El Aaraby MAR 2:05:18
7. Ablelom Kesete ERI 2:05:21
8. Belay Tilahun ETH 2:05:22
9. Tsedat Abeje ETH 2:05:47
10. Balew Yihunle ETH 2:05:57
Women:
1. Brillian Kipkoech KEN 2:17:05
2. Rebecca Tanui KEN 2:18:25
3. Kasanesh Ayenew ETH 2:19:39
4. Marion Kibor KEN 2:21:12
5. Lomi Muleta ETH 2:24:39
6. Selamawit Teferi ISR 2:26:58
7. Aselef Amare ETH 2:28:47
8. Tabea Themann GER 2:30:32
9. Tsiyon Abebe ETH 2:32:37
10. Manon Coste FRA 2:33:02