Gemeda and Dagne signed a new Ethiopian double in the Madrid marathon

the ethiopian Abdela Godana Gemeda became the third person to repeat the victory in the Madrid marathon, with a time of 2h08: 44and his countrymen Siranesh Yirga Dagne, May 2h24: 37 –Madrid-test record, registered his name for the first time in the history of a race that in its 44th edition was returned in April.

Gemeda is the third athlete to repeat a win in Madrid. Before him they made the Kenyan Ezekiel Chebii (2014-2015) Brazilian Jose César de Souza (1989-1990). And if last year, in September, there was a men’s triplet, this time the Ethiopian sweep in the women’s happened: Dagne was joined on the honor roll by Meseret Alemu (2:25:18) and the 2021 winner, Kasu Lemeneh (2:26:19).

Gemeda won in a time almost two minutes faster than last year, followed by Ugandan Geofrey Kusuro (2:09:23) and Ethiopian Zewudu Hailu Bekele (2:09:27).

More than 30,000 runners (close to the pre-pandemic contingent), distributed over a distance of 10 km, half marathon and marathon, return to the central roads of the capital from Spain at its classic appointment in April to participate, with the soundtrack of 14 musical groups, in Madrid’s great “running” party, which last year had to be held in September due to changes to the athletic calendar coming from pandemic.

The thermometer showed 5 degrees when, at 8:00 am, on a sunny morning, 10K runners started on Paseo de la Castellana.

The marathoners started an hour after the same point, the Plaza de Gregorio Marañónso that, surrounded by a large public, no longer masked, in the central streets, wander past the stadium of the Santiago Bernabéu, the Four Towers, the Moncloa Lighthouse, the Casa de Campo (lowest point of altimetry, 570 m at km 36) , Madrid Río and the Prado Museum, very close to the finish line, between Cibeles and Colón.

The race records set in 2019 by Kenyan Reuben Kerio (2h08: 18) and Ethiopian Shasho Insermu (2h26: 24) are in the crosshairs of the African army, which has dominated Madrid’s races since 2010 in men and since 2013 in women.

Burundian Thierry Ndikumwenayo, an athlete from Playas de Castellón who lives in Spain, set the pace in the front group (15:17 the first 5 km, 30:12 for 10), below the race record, reaching its highest point (731 m) at the Four Towers before making the long descent towards the Cottage.

In the middle of the race the pace slowed and the partial half marathon (1h04: 13) was 18 seconds above the record.. From there the “hare” retreated from a still very large group, about twenty athletes, who again accelerated the pace after breathing.

Thomas Kiplagat, with a personal best of 2h06.00, increased his run when he passed Casa de Campo and reduced the first group to a dozen. He was then seconded by Gemeda, who took over when the race was heading, from km 36, the hardest part of it.

In the personal best 2h08: 06, Gemeda was ahead of the others, even though Kiplagat did not give up. He slowly approached Gemeda but when he was five meters away his strength left him and he threw a towel (he finished on the podium), while the Ethiopian walked away in search of his second victory in a marathon (both in Madrid), after being twice second to Oita (Japan).

The women’s race has always run below the parts of the previous record (34:27 for km 10, 1h12: 40 for the half marathon) and was decided in the last five kmwhere Dagne, this year’s winner of the Lagos marathon, emerged as the strongest in the African army.

Segovian Águeda Muñoz, debutant in Madrid, and Zaragozan Carlos Mayo, with times of 33:10 and 29:33 minutes respectively, dominated the 10K Race, the first in the triptych offered by the Zurich RNR Running Series Madrid program .

FC Barcelona runner, champion of Spain under-23 of the 800 meters in 2020, defeated the winner in 2021, Marta Pérez from SorianaOlympic finalist (ninth) in the 1,500m at Tokyo 2020, who crossed the finish line ten seconds later, and Toledo’s Irene Sánchez-Escribano, Spain’s six-time champion in the 3,000m steeplechase, who set a time of 33:41.

Carlos Mayo exhibited in the men’s race. On his best record in Madrid He got his third consecutive victory with a minute and a half advantage against Galician Adrián Ben (31:18), fifth in the 800 Olympic final in Tokyo. Third was Castilian-La Mancha Fernando González-Mohino with 31:32.

For the first time, the Madrid 10K had more women registered (51%) than men (49%).

The half marathon registered the victories of Aragonese Toni Abadía (1h04: 02), who once again proved the victory with a half -minute advantage over debutant Jesús Ramos, and Catalan Marta Galimany (1:14:19), with a five -minute margin over veteran Diana Martín from Extremadura. The title defender, Leonese Nuria Lugueros did not come out.