Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum and Ethiopian Amane Beriso won the Valencia Marathon in lightning-fast times of 2 hours 1 minutes and 53 seconds and 2 hours 14 minutes and 58 seconds respectively. For his first marathon, Kiptum, 23, became the third fastest athlete in the history of the discipline behind his compatriot Eliud Kipchoge, who broke his own record at the end of September in Berlin (2h01’09), and the Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele, also winner in Berlin in 2019 in 2 h 01 min and 41 sec.
At 31, the Ethiopian Beriso became the third woman to complete a marathon under 2 hours and 15 minutes, behind the Kenyans Brigid Kosgei (2h14’04 in Chicago in 2019) and Ruth Chepngetich (2h14’18 in Chicago in October). For her first marathon, Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey (24), already world record holder in the 5,000m, 10,000m and half-marathon, finished second in the women’s over 2 hours 16 minutes.