Milkesa Mengesha and Tigist Ketema complete Ethiopian double at Berlin Marathon

BERLIN – Ethiopian duo Milkesa Mengesha and Tigist Ketema won the men’s and women’s races respectively in the 50th edition of the Berlin Marathon on Sept 29.

Mengesha finished just five seconds ahead of Kenyan Cybrian Kotut in 2hr 03min 17sec, with both recording personal bests. Haymanot Alew of Ethiopia was third in 2:03:31.

The times were outside the late Kelvin Kiptum’s world record of 2:00:35 and five-time Berlin winner Eliud Kipchoge’s course record of 2:01:09, set in 2022.

“It was wonderful,” said Mengesha, 24. “I am totally happy.

“It was good that I wasn’t among the favourites, because I had no pressure at all. I was totally relaxed and achieved exactly what I wanted in the end.

“I’m not the most experienced runner and I’ve had bad experiences, but it was perfectly organised and the spectators were wonderful too.

“It was hard and but I enjoyed it – I prepared for it extremely well.”

The pre-race favourite was Ethiopia’s Tadese Takele. But he finished only in seventh.

The 26-year-old Ketema, who competed in her first marathon only in January, won in 2:16:42.

“I worked very hard with my trainer and I would like to thank my coaches from the bottom of my heart,” she said.

Ketema’s time was just under five minutes slower than training partner Tigist Assefa’s world record of 2:11:53, but is the third-best women’s time in Berlin Marathon history.

Many of the big names – including Kipchoge – gave Berlin a miss, having competed at the recent Paris Olympics.

Despite the lack of world records, the combined first-place finishing times of the men and women made the Sept 29 race the 12th-fastest marathon of all time, and the fourth-quickest in Berlin history.

The leading men’s group broke away early, setting a strong pace over the first 10km of 28:42, just outside world-record time, but slowed gradually in sunny conditions.

Just before the 40km mark, four men pulled away from the pack: Mengesha, Kotut, Alew and Stephen Kiprop.

With the Brandenburg Gate in sight, Mengesha and Kotut distanced themselves from the chasers and were neck and neck until the Ethiopian managed to edge ahead in the final metres.

Said Mengesha: “I had been training very hard for this course. I knew it is very flat and I can run very fast times.

“But I was at the London Marathon before that and I had to stop after 38km because I had some issues. I was very worried about that.”

Alongside fellow Ethiopian Azmera Gebru, Ketema opened up an early lead over the pack, pulling away after 5km.

Just before the halfway mark, she began to pull away from Gebru, opening up a 12-second lead.

Ketema continued to pull away from her compatriot, eventually crossing the line 2min 6sec ahead of second-placed Mestawot Fikir, also of Ethiopia.

Bosena Mulatie finished in 2:19:00 to ensure an Ethiopian sweep of the podium places.

Ketema had signalled she could be a force in marathons with her maiden performance in January in Dubai.

Her time of 2:16:07 was the best-ever recorded by a debutante.
AFP, REUTERS