DUBAI, UAE, January 24—Worknesh Degefa produced the top performance of the day when she won the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon for a second time after her debut win in 2017. The Ethiopian clocked a fast time of 2:19:38 which is also a world lead. While she was well ahead, the men’s race had a spectacularly close finish once again. Debutant Olika Adugna of Ethiopia was the surprise winner with a world lead of 2:06:15 while the first four runners were only separated by three seconds.
But that was not all: For the first time in marathon history 11 runners clocked times of sub 2:07. The Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon broke its own record. Back in 2012 10 runners had produced such times here. Both winners were rewarded with $100,000.