Ethiopia’s Kebebe outshines Kenya’s Kirwa in Xiamen Marathon
Ethiopia’s Asefa Boki Kebebe outmanoeuvred Kenya’s Felix Kirwa to emerge as the winner in the Xiamen Marathon on Sunday, January 7, 2024.
Kebebe won courtesy of his 2:06:46, according to World Athletics.
This was a stiff race given that it was a field that had three sub-2:05 runners, and the winner only failed, just 27 seconds shy of the course record.
Meanwhile, the lead group had more than 10 runners who passed the 10km mark in 29:28 and 15km in 44:20. Kenya’s unit was hit by a blow when both Philemon Kipchumba and Kibiwott Kandie withdrew just after the leaders hit the 20km mark in 59:08.
Kipchumba was the defending champion, while Kandie was the fastest entrant with a personal best of 2:04:48.
With the two withdrawing, the leading group shrank, and at 25km, there were only five contestants: Kebebe, Kirwa, Solomon Kirwa Yego of Kenya, Ethiopai’s Adane Kebede Gebre, and Moroccan record-holder Othmane El Goumri.
However, the lead group shrank further when Gebre dropped out before the 30km mark, with the leaders crossing that mark in 1:29:13. Another formidable challenger, Morocco’s El Goumri, faded away, with the leading trio hitting the 35km mark in 1:44:43.
At this point, Kirwa was holding the pole position of winning, but Kebebe kept following him closely and not giving up. The Ethiopian made a decisive move in the final kilometre passing Kirwa, and therefore won his third marathon title in China following victories in Changchun and Tianjin in 2023.
Eventually, Kirwa, a winner in the Yichang, Stockholm, Macao, Singapore, and Antwerp marathons, settled for second place.
Ethiopia’s Gudeta shines
The Ethiopian dominance was also replicated in the women’s race, with Bekelech Gudeta emerging as the winner after clocking 2:22:54.
Gudeta, Aberu Ayana Mulisa, and Ftaw Zeray led the women’s race to 15km in 55:09, with the closest chaser, Morocco’s world bronze medallist Fatima Ezzahra Gardadi, lagging more than 40 seconds behind.
Gudeta won in 2:22:54, and that meant she managed to shave two seconds from the personal best she set when winning in Prague two years ago.
Gardadi finished second in 2:24:12, taking almost a minute off her personal best in what was her second race in Xiamen in five weeks following a 1:11:14 victory at the Xiamen Half Marathon.
China’s Zhang Deshun was third in 2:26:53.