2 min readThree-time Olympic gold medalist Kenenisa Bekele, 41, set a new masters world record of 2:04:19 during the Valencia Marathon on Sunday. Bekele was 20 seconds behind the lead group at the halfway mark, then worked his way up the pack to claim fourth place in the men’s field. His time surpasses Tadesse Abraham’s masters record of 2:05:10, which he ran at the Berlin Marathon in September.
But it wasn’t just Bekele setting records—the marathon itself smashed its own previous record of the most runners to finish under three hours. By the end of the race, 5,281 runners, including 4,975 men and 306 women, finished with a sub-three-hour time, besting last year’s 3,985 runners to finish with a time under three hours.
Valencia is known for its flat course, which, along with ideal temperatures for marathon running, may have contributed to the blistering field of runners record number of sub-3 finishes. Even Bekele attributes his masters success to the course.
“It was a fantastic race, but really I liked the course. The course was amazing, you know, I've never seen this course. It was flat and smooth. So I’m very happy with the course," Bekele said in a video posted by Trackstaa after the race.
The Ethiopian, a three-time Olympic gold medalist, previously set a personal best marathon time with a 2:01:41 finish in the Berlin Marathon back in 2019. He adds the masters world record to his long list of accomplishments, including 16 gold medals at the World Athletics Championships and World Cross Country Championships, as well as two wins at the Berlin Marathon.
In the elite field at Valencia, Sisay Lemma of Ethiopia, who previously won the 2021 London Marathon, finished first with a time of 2:01:48, while the women’s winner, Worknesh Degefa, crossed the line in 2:15:51, good for the seventh-fastest women's marathon on record. Degefa is now the third runner in 2023 with a sub-2:16 marathon, following behind Tigist Assefa, who ran 2:11.53 in Berlin, and Sifan Hassan’s 2:13.44 in Chicago. A total of 18 women ran under 2:25, with three breaking 2:18.
Laura Ratliff is a New York City-based writer, editor, and runner. Laura's writing expertise spans numerous topics, ranging from travel and food and drink to reported pieces covering political and human rights issues. She has previously worked at Architectural Digest, Bloomberg News, and Condé Nast Traveler and was most recently the senior editorial director at TripSavvy. Like many of us, Laura was bitten by the running bug later in life, after years of claiming to "hate running." Her favorite marathon is Big Sur.
