Tamirat Tola Wins the Beijing Marathon in the Fastest Time Seen on Chinese Roads

Tamirat Tola won the Beijing Marathon on Sunday in 2:03:10, the fastest marathon anyone has run in China, and took 3:56 off a course record that had stood since 2019. The 35-year-old Ethiopian, who is the reigning Olympic champion, spent most of the morning at the front and finished 1:24 clear of his compatriot Muktar Edris, according to results reported by Xinhua.

Edris, a two-time world champion at 5,000m, was second in 2:04:34, not far off the 2:04:07 he ran when he finished fifth at the Tokyo Marathon in March. Adane Kebede Gebre made it an Ethiopian top 3 in 2:05:10. All three men went under the old record of 2:07:06, set by Kenya’s Mathew Kisorio, on a course where nobody had previously broken 2:07.

A New Fastest Time on Chinese Roads

The quickest marathon on Chinese soil before Sunday belonged to Philimon Kiptoo Kipchumba, who won Shanghai in November 2023 in 2:05:35, a time World Athletics listed as the Chinese all-comers’ record. Tola improved on it by 2:25.

In April, Tola finished fifth in London in a personal best of 2:02:59, in the race where Sabastian Sawe ran 1:59:30 to become the first man to break two hours. Sunday’s run was only 11 seconds slower than that, and this time nobody came within a minute and a half of him. Before the race, Tola told Chinese media he had spent around six months getting ready for Beijing, with a personal best and the course record as his targets.

Lemi Berhanu, who won the men’s race here in 2024 (2:09:16) and 2025 (2:08:10), spent Sunday winning the Amsterdam Marathon instead. His winning time there was 2:03:33, a big run of its own and still 23 seconds slower than Tola’s in Beijing.

Genaneh Defends Her Title and Two Chinese Champions Are Crowned

Anchinalu Dessie Genaneh of Ethiopia won the women’s race again, this time in 2:20:36, which was 5:32 quicker than her winning time a year ago. Because Beijing doubled as China’s national marathon championships, the next two places carried titles of their own. Cirencuomu finished second in a personal best of 2:23:48 to become the Chinese women’s champion, with Lu Ying third. Li Dalin was the top Chinese man, fourth overall in a personal best of 2:08:30, Beijing Daily reported.

Tola’s win pays $50,000, and breaking the course record adds 60,000 yuan ($8,967) on top, the Global Times reported. Organizers said more than 265,000 people applied for the 32,000 places on a course that runs from Tiananmen Square north to the Olympic Park, and Saturday’s rain had moved through by the time they set off.

The World Championships Come to Beijing Next September

Tola won the world title in Eugene in 2022 in 2:05:36 and the Olympic marathon in Paris two years later in 2:06:26, an Olympic record, and in between he won New York in a course record of 2:04:58.

Beijing hosts the World Championships at the National Stadium from Sept. 11 to 19, 2027, and Tola’s time on Sunday is well inside the 2:06:00 men’s entry standard World Athletics set for those championships, inside a qualifying window that stays open until May 2, 2027.