Mengesha and Ketema Win The 2024 Berlin Marathon

Kipchoge, Assefa, Kipchoge, Assefa, Bekele, Kipchoge, Bekele. And now Mengesha and Ketema.  

The best win in Berlin, year after year. Five in eight years for Kipchoge, four in a row for Haile Gebrselassie, three for Gladys Cherono, two for Bekele and Assefa and numerous other greats who’ve won more than once.

They return because it’s flat and fast, and they return because it’s where they prove themselves as the best, by beating the best. But this year, there wasn’t going to be a repeat winner. There would be two new champions. 

With the Olympic marathon just seven weeks ago, and no one daring the Paris and Berlin double, this year the runners on the start line in the German capital were less familiar than in previous years, and there was likely more at stake for them. 

These are the 2:04 guys from a country of 2:03 guys. More than a dozen women faster than the Olympic qualifying standard, and not selected for Paris. Medallists stepping up from running tracks and the city marathon circuit to The Majors. They’ve stood on podiums in Amsterdam, Valencia, Dubai, Hamburg, Seville, Osaka. Past and present world record holders in distances from 1500m to the half marathon. And with no previous Marathon Major champions in the field, this would be a life-changing race for the winners. 

The men’s race was a perfect examples of a how a running race lasting more than two hours can keep us enthralled until the very end.

They went out in under 2:02 pace, with a group of 10 running through halfway in 1:00:57. The pace surged, then became thrillingly tactical as it slowed between 25km and 40km. Into the final few kilometres and there were still four men close together, but in the end, as Ethiopia’s Milkesa Mengesha ran through the Brandenburg Gate, he was able to push ahead of Kenya’s Cyprian Kotut.

Mengesha, 24, won in 2:03:17, with Kotut just five seconds behind. Ethiopia’s Haymanot Alew was third and Kenya’s Stephen Kiprop fourth. The top four were within 20 seconds of each other, and all ran big personal bests on an ideal day for running in Berlin, which saw eight of the top 10 men run their fastest ever marathon.

Mengesha wasn’t considered among the favourites ahead of the race, with a previous best of 2:05:29 from Valencia Marathon 2022, but he had the best race of his life.

The women’s race was won by pre-run favourite as Tigist Ketema, 26, won in 2:16:42.

She only ran her first marathon in Dubai in January, but there she ran the fastest ever women’s debut marathon (2:16:07). The Ethiopian set out at 2:16 pace and went through halfway in 1:07:53, but slowed slightly, though she won by more than two minutes ahead of second place Mestawot Fikir (2:18:48), with Bosena Mulatie making it three Ethiopians on the podium with her time of 2:19:00.

Like the men’s race, the women were pushed to fast times, and six of the top 10 ran new personal bests. That includes GB’s Calli Hauger-Thackery who ran 2:21:24. She had competed in the Paris Olympic Marathon but was unable to finish, and made last-minute plans to make amends in Berlin.

Overall it was a record-breaking day in Berlin with over 58,212 people from 160 countries starting the race in its 50th year. And thousands of them will have run new personal best on what is one of the fastest marathon courses in the world.

Berlin is fast because it’s flat, but Berlin is fast because runners believe they can run quick times there. They stand on the start and expect to finish in a time that’s faster than they’ve ever run a marathon before. There weren’t going to be world records this year, but there was the life-changing incentive of becoming a Marathon Major champion.

With no previous Marathon Major winners in the line-up, Mengesha and Ketema are two new champions. They proved themselves as the best in Berlin, and among the best in the world. If we didn’t know their names before, we do now. And we’ll be seeing them again, probably on the streets of Berlin, because the best always come back to Berlin.

Photo by Luciano Lima/Getty Images