Ethiopia's Sisay Lemma clocked the fourth-fastest time ever in winning a stacked Valencia marathon on Sunday.
The 32-year-old timed 2hr 01min 48sec to beat the course record set last year by none other than Kenya's Kelvin Kiptum, who smashed the world record earlier this year in Chicago (2:00:35).
Only Kiptum, Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge (Berlin, 2022) and Ethiopia's Kenenisa Bekele (Berlin, 2019) have gone faster than Lemma.
Lemma won in Valencia ahead of Kenya's Alexander Mutiso (2:03:11) and Ethiopian Dawit Wolde (2:03:48), while Bekele, 41, came in fourth in a masters record of 2:04:19.
'New chapter' for Uganda's Cheptegei
"Once I passed the half marathon I realised that I was running at a record pace and that I had the strength to run and beat the race record," said Lemma.
"At the 25km mark I realised that I wasn't going to be able to go under 2:01."
Uganda's three-time world 10,000m champion Joshua Cheptegei, the world record holder in both the 5,000 and 10,000m, was making his debut in the marathon, but faded and finished well off the pace in 2:08:59).
"Marathon is a journey, a new chapter that I opened today," Cheptegei, who is also 5,000m Olympic champion, said.
Ethiopia's double joy
"I am proud that I finished despite the fact that the result didn't match up with what we had trained for. I have had disappointment before and it always made me come back stronger, it is the most powerful lesson in life.
"More marathon chapters will be written in the years to come."
There was double joy for Ethiopia as Worknesh Degefa (2:15:51) won the women's race ahead of compatriots Almaz Ayana (2:16:22) and Hiwot Gebrekidan (2:17:59).
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