By Victor Kanayo
Ethiopia dazzled on Sunday during the Berlin marathon with an ecstatic performance.
The Ethiopians’ dominance produced winners in both the men and women races, and runners up in five of the six podium places.
Milkesa Mengesha, 24, beat Kenya’s Cyrbian Kotut by just five seconds in the men’s event, pulling clear in the final stretch to finish in two hours, three minutes 17 seconds.
Fellow Ethiopian Haymanot Alew was third.
Tigist Ketema, 26, claimed victory in the women’s event in a time of 2:16:42, more than two minutes ahead of compatriots Mestawot Fikir and Bosena Mulatie.
Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa broke the women’s world record with a time of 2:11:53 in last year’s race, but while Ketema was five minutes slower than that, her winning time was still the third fastest in the event.
It was the 50th running of the prestigious marathons but a number of big names were missing, with the races coming just over a month after the end of the Paris Olympics.
Kenya’s five-time winner Eliud Kipchoge, who won the 2022 men’s race in a then world record time of 2:01:09, was among those not racing.
