“I felt so good in the first 5km and I think I pushed too hard,” said Sifan Hassan. Her hard push at the finish yielded a course record win by 34 seconds. (VICTOR SAILER/PHOTO RUN)
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, August 31 — The 23rd running of the Sydney Marathon was something special as the 42.2K legacy to the ’00 Olympic competition became the seventh member of the Abbott World Marathon Majors series. Ethiopian Hailemaryam Kiros and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands claimed the inaugural wins.
Seizing an opportunity to make history, Olympic gold medalist Hassan passed on her sixth straight WC to race here instead and then passed former WR holder Brigid Kosgei at 35K before pulling away to a 34-second victory margin in 2:18:22.
“It’s history,” the 32-year-old Hassan exclaimed. “It’s the first major marathon in Sydney and I’m really grateful to run a course record and win.”
Kosgei crossed in 2:18:56, her tenth career sub-2:20 spanning 8 consecutive years dating back to ’17. Defending champ and course recordholder Workenesh Edesa finished 3rd in 2:22:15.
Kiros sprinted away from 20-year-old countryman Addisu Gobena in the final 800 to close out his course record win in 2:06:06. Gobena crossed 2nd in 2:06:16, with Lethoso’s Tebello Ramakongoana 3rd in 2:06:45.
WR-setter and 2-time Olympic champ Eliud Kipchoge completed his sixth different WMM race with a very solid 2:08:31 in 9th.
Initially contested in April ’00 as a test run for the Olympic Marathon, the course follows a complex route winding through a relentless series of steep climbs and descents. It’s a doozy with a bridge crossing like NYC, more turns than London — including a Tokyo-style U-turn at the end of a long out-and-back boulevard stretch — and it’s hillier than Boston.
Compared to the other majors, Sydney sits on the challenging end of the spectrum with NYC and Boston, and like Boston it is neither record-conducive nor record eligible with elevation gain of 313m yet a net 1.97m per K elevation loss.
As the first Southern Hemisphere major, Sydney’s late-August date fell at the end of winter. It might as well have been the first day of spring as the event was gifted a near perfect blue-sky day with light winds and race-ready temperatures and dew point.
Setting off at dawn, the lead group of 3 pacers and 9 racers latched onto the prescribed 3:00 per kilometer clip, passing 10K in 30:04 and 20K in 60:29. Kipchoge led the way across the halfway mat in 63:45.
Immediately after the pacers retired at 30K, 40-year-old Laban Korir, a training partner of Kipchoge at Patrick Sang’s NN camp in Kaptagat, leaned into the pace. Korir’s move strung out the pack with Kipchoge falling 20m behind, relegated to a long solo run home.
Korir’s move played out by 32K and a 7-man lead pack regrouped, only to stretch out again when Gobena hit the front tugging at the pace. Just as the pack began to splinter, they arrived at the 35K aid station and eased up — a courtesy pace break with all 7 taking on their super-drinks.
The lull lasted but a minute as Gobena gave the pace a real jerk this time, sprinting ahead determined to have his competitors chase his green kit home. It was a bold move for the lanky former javelin thrower who out-shouldered Conner Mantz to win the Houston Half-Marathon in 59:17 in January. Gobena a month after that ran 2:05:22 to finish 2nd in Daegu.
The sharp acceleration was almost the perfect getaway as only Ramakongoana reacted to the surge but couldn’t close the gap. The move did not rattle Kiros who steadily worked his way up through the chase pack, then bridged the gap to Ramakongoana and pulled up behind Gobena’s green vest at 37K. The Ethiopian pushed no further just yet as he remained belted into the catbird seat until the final kilometer.
After finishing 5th last year in Berlin, running a PR 2:04:35 and placing 4th in the ’24 Tokyo Marathon, Kiros took no chances with the prospect of his first WMM win. In the late going he shadowed Gobena until he pulled even at 41K, then a minute later took off in a full sprint cascading down Sydney’s free-fall finish to a 10-second win.
“The competition was very hard,” Kiros admitted. “There were a lot of strong runners, but I expected the 1st-placing because I prepared well for a course that has a lot of up and downs. That was it and I am happy.”
The women’s race was quick to jump the script with 5 blitzing the downhill opening 5K in 15:43 (2:12:38 pace, oops). Even after braking through the subsequent 5K in 16:29, the lead quintet passed 10K in 32:12. That was 2:15:52 pace and time for a pace correction.
“I felt so good in the first 5km and I think I pushed too hard. That’s not really smart and I’m going to pay the price,” Hassan said later. With that, Hassan took a 17:40 recovery 5K before settling in at 2:20 pace to cross halfway in 70:01 and 30K in 1:39:43 — 2:20:15 pace.
After following Sifan and the pacers through 30K, Kosgei moved to the front and stepped up the pace. She split 16:11 between 30 and 35K dropping the pace to 2:19:44, but not Hassan.
Fully recovered from her opening act, Hassan was ready to roll into her track stride and blitzed 35-40K in 15:45 and the final 2195m in 6:44.
“I pushed so hard in the finish because I didn’t want any drama,” Hassan said, mindful of her bump-and-run Olympic finish matching strides with Tigst Assefa. “I was so excited I wanted to see how long I could hold it over the final 5K and I just killed myself to finish normal without drama.”
The win was Hassan’s fourth in the five marathons she has contested — five with only her Olympic Record triumph slower than 2:20.
SYDNEY MARATHON MEN’S RESULTS
1. Hailemaryam Kiros (Eth) 2:06:06 (1:03:46/1:02:20); 2. Addisu Gobena (Eth) 2:06:16; 3. Tebello Ramakongoana (Les) 2:06:47; 4. Mustapha Houdadi (Mor) 2:07:17; 5. Edward Cheserek (Ken) 2:07:38; 6. Masato Arao (Jpn) 2:07:42;… 9. Eliud Kipchoge (Ken) 2:08:31;… 12. Brian Shrader (US) 2:10:29.
SYDNEY MARATHON WOMEN’S RESULTS
1. Sifan Hassan (Neth) 2:18:22 (1:10:01/1:08:21); 2. Brigid Kosgei (Ken) 2:18:56; 3. Workenesh Edesa (Eth) 2:22:15; 4. Sichala Kumeshi (Eth) 2:22:50; 5. Evaline Chirchir (Ken) 2:23:13; 6. Ai Hosoda (Jpn) 2:23:27.
When “Professor Marathon” isn’t crafting topographical maps and pace charts for 26-milers around the world, the now Emeritus geographer at Wisconsin–Eau Claire, serves as the Chair of the Lower Chippewa River conservation organization and hits the airwaves Thursday afternoons as a DJ on a community radio program called “All Things 6 String.” (Hint: Sean’s the one in the photo who never set a World Record ?)
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