Kibet, Korir headline top participants in fastest Sydney Marathon field
By Joel Sang, September 15, 2023Moses Kibet and Judith Korir are two of the top athletes who will participate in the World Athletics Elite Platinum Label road race, which will be held in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday, September 17, 2023.
Apart from Kibet and Korir, Tanzania’s Gabriel Geay will be among the athletes in action when the Sydney Marathon takes place.
The Kenyan stars will take part in the major marathon racing, making it the fastest marathon pack ever assembled in Australia.
Korir’s debut
Korir is a 2022 World Championships silver medallist and Paris Marathon champion and will be making her Australian debut. She finished sixth in the London Marathon in April, where she ran her personal best of 2:18:20.
Additionally, she finished as runner-up to Gotytom Gebreslase on the World Athletics Championship stage in Oregon in 2021.
In the women’s category, she will battle it out with other sub-2:22s, including her compatriot, Angela Tanui. Tanui ran 2:17:57 to win the Amsterdam Marathon in 2021 and finished fourth in the Tokyo Marathon the following year, before finishing sixth in Oregon.
Hailu Desse of Ethiopia, whose personal best of 2:20:19 was set in Amsterdam in 2021, will look to conquer her first marathon since winning in Osaka in 2:21:13 in January.
Nazret Weldu of Eritrea, who finished fourth and then eighth in the past two World Championship marathons, and Siranesh Yirga Dagne, who has a best of 2:21:08, will also compete.
Kibet vs Geay
Enjoying a personal best of 2:03:00 set in Valencia in 2022, Geay will be leading the men’s field. The Tanzanian, 27, finished second in the Boston Marathon in April after running in 2:06:04, as he was beaten by Evans Chebet (2:05:54), who won the race.
Geay’s main rival is Kenya’s Kibet, who won the Sydney Marathon last year by setting an Australian all-comers’ record of 2:07:03. Kibet not only broke the record but also beat Kenyan compatriot Cosmas Matolo Muteti by just two seconds.
Kibet and Geay will compete in a field that features some sub-2:06 men, as the duo will be joined by Ethiopia’s Getaneh Molla (2:03:34), Kenya’s Jonathan Korir (2:04:32), Ethiopia’s Abayneh Degu (2:04:53), Kenya’s Abraham Kipkemboi Kiptoo (2:05:04), Morocco’s Othmane El Goumri (2:05:12), Ethiopia’s Amedework Walelegn (2:05:27), and Kenya’s Laban Korir (2:05:41).