2026 Sydney Marathon: Addisu Gobena sets men's course record in victory; Peres Jepchirchir wins women's race

A runner-up last year in the Sydney Marathon, Ethiopian Addisu Gobena won the event on Saturday, emerging from a field that featured the 2025 winner, fellow Ethiopian Hailemaryam Kiros, and the reigning world champion, Tanzania's Alphonce Simbu.

Gobena, 21, smashed Kiros' course record of 2:06:06 with a time of 2:04:42.

Although Simbu was taken down, the 2025 world champion on the women's side, Kenya's Peres Jepchirchir, wasn't defeated in Australia. The 32-year-old Jepchirchir, a 2021 Olympic gold medalist, finished just nine seconds shy of the course record, clocking in at 2:18:31.

In its second year as a World Marathon major — there are currently seven (the others are Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City) — the Sydney Marathon hosted around 40,000 expected runners who raced from North Sydney, across the Sydney Harbor Bridge and to the finish line, which was located in front of the city's iconic Opera House.

The Sydney Marathon marked the fourth event on this year's Marathon Major calendar. With a more demanding course than some of the majors, there was once again plenty of intrigue in Sydney. Last year, Kiros finished first among the men, while Sifan Hassan, a three-time Olympic gold medalist representing the Netherlands, took home the women's in 2:18:22. She didn't take part in Saturday's race, however.

This time around, Kenya's Priscah Cherono led all women at the 10-kilometer mark. The 46-year-old, who won the Los Angeles Marathon earlier this year after recently making a comeback from a five-year hiatus , was being chased by a collection of elites. That group included Jepchirchir, her compatriot.

Cherono was finally caught, about 30 kilometers in. Jepchirchir surged and so did Tanzania's Magdalena Shauri and Kenya's Irine Cheptai. Jepchirchir and Cheptai ultimately overtook Cherono, and Jepchirchir pulled ahead near the 35-kilometer mark.

In the end, no one reeled in Jepchirchir, who was stunningly close to topping Hassan's course record from a year ago.

As for the men's race, through 20 kilometers, it was on pace to shatter the course record. Humorously, two people dressed as Mario and Luigi were matching the speed of the lead runners for a good bit of time while on the sidelines.

Notably, Ethiopian Sisay Lemma dropped back from the top group as the race wore on. Lemma won Boston in 2024 but has struggled with injuries in recent years.

Through 40 kilometers, the men's pack was seven deep, with Kiros, Gobena and Simbu all contending.

Gobena made his move and wound up taking more than a minute off the previous course record Kiros had notched, holding off another Ethiopian, Chimdessa Debele, with a final push.