By Michael Kirwa
Milkesa Mengesha of Ethiopia is the winner of the 2024 Berlin Marathon.
The 24-year clocked 2:03:17 to become the first Ethiopian to win the event since Guye Adola in 2021, making it the 25th consecutive edition of the men’s Berlin Marathon won by either a Kenyan or an Ethiopian athlete.
Cybrian Kotut of Kenya was second after clocking 2:03:22, eight seconds ahead of Haymanot Alew of Ethiopia who was third with a time of 2:03:31.
With this year’s Berlin Marathon coming less than eight weeks after the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, the event was denied the appearance of elite names that have dominated the 42-kilometre race in the men’s and women’s category in recent years.
As such, with a second rate field of athletes taking to the streets of the German capital, it was understandable that much of the pre-race focused on the event entering its 50th edition, an occasion that saw the organisers set up a temporary museum to celebrate the history of the Berlin Marathon.
Long reputed to be the scene where the world marathon record usually gets lowered, there were to be no such heroics this time after the leading pack crossed the halfway mark in 1:00:57, a time that would have required the most daring runner of the lot to run 59:38 in the second half of the race.
The course record of 2:01:09 set by the legendary Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge in 2022, however, remained under threat of going down but any indication of a robust assault on it faded after the leading athletes crossed the 30-kilometre mark in 1:27:21, a time that the projected time for the race’s winner being 2:02:16, over a minute slower than the course record.
Top 3 finishers at Berlin Marathon 2024
After the 30-kilometre mark, the leading pack had reduced to seven athletes with the Ethiopian duo of Takele Tadese and Milkesa Mengesa looking dominant as they approached 35 kilometres.
The Kenyans Stephen Kiprop and Cybrian Kotut however remained in the thick of the action and by the 40-kilometre the race to the finish line had to whittled to a contest between them Mengesha and another Ethiopian, Haymanot Alew, as Tadese had dropped off the pace.
In the end it was Mengesha who proved to be strongest, powering to finish line to win the race with a time of 2:03:17 with Kotut clocking 2:03:22 to finish second. Alew, finishing third with a time of 2:03:31, got the better of Kiprop to complete the podium. Kiprop was fourth with a time of 2:03:37.
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The women’s event was an Ethiopian affair, with the East African accounting for the race’s top finishers, an eventuality which made it the 15th consecutive time that the women’s race at the Berlin Marathon that has been won by a Kenyan or Ethiopian athlete.
Tigist Ketema won the race with a time of 2:16:42, way ahead of her compatriot Mestawot Fikir who was second with a time of 2:18:48. Bosena Mulatie completed the Ethiopian clean sweep of the podium after finishing third with a time of 2:19:00, more than a minute ahead of another Ethiopian, Aberu Ayana Mulisa who clocked 2:20:20 to finish fourth.
ALSO READ: SportPesa launch revolutionary Tujiamini Initiative to nurture talent
Tujiamini is an initiative that seeks to provide a platform, including up to 30M shillings in funding, for individual, team sports and various talent, in a year-long campaign that will go around the country in a move aimed at evoking the sense of pride in Kenya’s sports and talent ecosystem.
Applicants are urged to submit their applications through www.tujiamini.co.ke