Ethiopia takes double gold in Paris 2024 Marathon

Despite their relative lack of marathon experience, Ethiopia's Mulugeta Uma and Mestawut Fikir beat off the favourites to win the men's and women's race in the Paris Marathon on Sunday.

Mulugeta Uma, the 26-year-old running only the fourth marathon of his career, smashed his previous personal best by more than 30 seconds, clocking a time of 2h 5min 33sec.

He managed to pull away from Kenya's Titus Kipruto just 2.5km from the finish line. 

Paris Marathon record holder Kenya's Elisha Rotich took third place, while defending champion Ethiopia's Abeje Ayana came in ninth.

Women's sprint finish

Mestawut Fikir, 24, competing in her first full marathon, won the women's race in 2h 20min 45sec, just one minute off the race record.

She beat off her compatriot Enat Tirusew in a sprint finish. 

Vivian Cheruiyot, the 39-year-old Kenyan who won the Olympic 5,000m title in Rio in 2016 but running her first marathon since 2019, struggled for a while but recovered to take third place.

Dutchman Geert Schipper, 52, won the wheelchair race in 1h 34min 36sec, while Frenchman Julien Casoli, a five-time winner of the event, took second place in 1h 37min 11sec.

Olympic marathon to come

More than 54,000 runners took part in this 47th edition, nearly half of them marathon first-timers.

The route, down the Champs-Elysees avenue and through woodland on the east and west of Paris, was very different from the course the Olympic field will follow on 10 and 11 August during the Paris Games.

That one will start at Paris City Hall, head out of the city to Versailles, and then return to finish near the Invalides memorial, which houses Napoleon's tomb.