Lemma posts fourth-best time in marathon history

Spain won the Valencia Marathon 2023 with 2 hours 1 minute 48 seconds, 32-year-old athlete Sisay Lemma Kasaye broke the race record and achieved the fourth best result in the history of this event.

Lemma won the Valencia Marathon 2023 on December 3. Photo: X / Maraton Valencia — Lemma won the Valencia Marathon 2023 on December 3. Photo: *X / Maraton Valencia*

On the track in Valencia, Spain on December 3, Lemma, along with his compatriot Dawit Wolde and Kandiwott Kandie of Kenya, created a three-horse race, all achieving world record speeds when reaching the 30km mark in 1 hour 24 minutes 4 seconds, 27 seconds faster than the previous best time at this mark.

After overtaking the pacer at 30.5km, the trio’s pace dropped, and they took 14 minutes and 36 seconds for the 5km from 30 to 35km. The difference came in the sprint, when Lemma was the only one to reach a 3:00 pace (three minutes per kilometer) to cover 40km in 1 hour, 55 minutes and 12 seconds, almost a minute ahead of Wolde, while Alexander Mutiso – the Kenyan runner who had just broken into the lead – dropped to third.

Lemma finished solo in 2 hours 1 minute 48 seconds, just 7 seconds behind veteran Kenenisa Bekele's national record. But the Ethiopian still set a Valencia Marathon record, beating Kelvin Kiptum's 2 hours 1 minute 53 seconds in his first marathon in 2022. For this double victory, Lemma received 105,000 euros in prize money, including 75,000 for winning the men's title and 30,000 for breaking the race record.

Lemma also has the fourth best marathon time in history, behind only the Kenyan duo Kelvin Kiptum and Eliud Kipchoge. Specifically, Kipchoge twice broke the world record with 2:01:39 at Berlin 2018 and lowered it to 2:01:09 at Berlin 2022, before Kiptum set a new milestone with 2:00:35 at Chicago 2023.

Lemma was awarded the Valencia Marathon record certificate. Photo: AS

Lemma began his career at the age of 17 and made a splash by winning the 2012 Maratona d'Italia. He finished fifth at the Tiberias Marathon, won the Orlen Warsaw Marathon and finished fourth at the Eindhoven Marathon in 2013.

In 2015, Lemma finished fifth at the Dubai Marathon in 2:07:06, won the Vienna City Marathon in 2:07:21, and set a personal best (PB) of 2:02:26 at the Frankfurt Marathon. He improved his PB to 2:05:16 when he finished fourth at the 2016 Dubai Marathon.

In 2017, he finished third at the Dubai Marathon, fourth at the Chicago Marathon, then broke the Ljubljana Marathon record in 2:04:58 in 2018. At the 2019 Berlin Marathon, he further improved his PB with a 2:03:36, and finished third at the 2020 Tokyo Marathon in 2:04:51.

Lemma won the 2021 London Marathon in 2 hours, 4 minutes and 1 second, and then won the Valencia Marathon for the first time last weekend. "It's unbelievable to win with such a good result. I'm very happy," the Ethiopian said. "After finishing the first half of the race, I realized I had a chance to set a record and I was encouraged by that."

Sisay Lemma wins Valencia Marathon 2023.

At the 2023 Valencia Marathon, Mutiso finished second in 2 hours 3 minutes 11 seconds, while Dawit Wolde finished third in 2 hours 3 minutes 48 seconds. Veteran runner Bekele set a record for over-40s runners by finishing fourth in 2 hours 4 minutes 19 seconds, while 10,000m star Joshua Cheptegei finished 37th in 2 hours 8 minutes 59 seconds in his first time running the 42.195 km distance.

Meanwhile, Ethiopia dominated the women's event as Worknesh Degefa won in 2:15:51. Her two compatriots, Almaz Ayana, finished second in 2:16:22 and Hiwot Gebrekidan finished third in 2:17:59.

The Valencia Marathon, which was established in 1981, is the largest annual road race in Spain and is part of the most prestigious Platinum category of the World Athletics. Last year, the race set a record with 33,000 runners, but that number has dropped to just over 26,000.

Hong Duy

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