BEIJING — Tamirat Tola crossed the line at the Beijing Olympic Park on Sunday having taken nearly four minutes off a course record that dated from 2019, and the two Ethiopians who followed him were inside the old mark too.
Tola, 35, won the 2026 Beijing Marathon in 2 hours, 3 minutes and 10 seconds, according to Xinhua. The record he broke, 2:07:06, was set by Kenya’s Mathew Kipkoech Kisorio. Muktar Edris took second in 2:04:34 and Adane Kebede Gebre third in 2:05:10, so Ethiopian runners swept the men’s podium and three men beat the old mark in a single race.
The margin is the story. Subtracting the two times gives 3 minutes 56 seconds, and by the same arithmetic Edris finished 2:32 inside the old record and Gebre 1:56 inside it. Tola arrived with the titles to match: Xinhua noted that he won the marathon at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon and at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games. The race also served as the National Marathon Championships.
Another Ethiopian, Anchinalu Dessie Genaneh, kept her women’s title in 2:20:36. Xinhua’s photo report from the awards ceremony named China’s Cirencuomu as second and Lu Ying, also of China, as third. TEH has not found finishing times for either.
Demand ran far ahead of space. Xinhua reported that, according to organizers, more than 265,000 runners signed up despite a cap of 32,000, which works out to roughly eight sign-ups for every place. The course ran from Tiananmen Square to the Olympic Park.
TEH has not seen official timing sheets or split times, so every time and placing above comes from Xinhua’s reports. How the organizers filled 32,000 places from more than 265,000 sign-ups is also something TEH has not been able to establish.
