Ethiopia’s Mulu Seboka successfully defended her title while compatriot Tsegaye Getachew won the men’s race at the ICBC Cup Dalian International Marathon, an IAAF Silver Label road race.
Mulu lived up to expectations as the 34-year-old literally paced the race from start to finish, notching her second straight victory in the Chinese coastal city in 2:27:19. Her winning mark is 1:40 faster than the time she set last year, but more than five minutes shy of her personal best of 2:21:56 recorded back in 2015. It is also her third consecutive Chinese marathon title as Mulu won the Shenzhen Marathon last December.
Mulu and the relatively unheralded Tigist Tadese, also from Ethiopia, ran side by side for nearly 20km, extending their advantage to two-and-a-half minutes before the in-form defending champion pulled clear. Tigist clocked 2:29:02 to finish second while Almaz Negede clocked 2:31:24 to complete an Ethiopian sweep.
The 22-year-old Getachew outsprinted compatriot Mekuanent Ayenew, winner of the 2018 Venice Marathon and 2016 Beijing Marathon, in the last 200 meters to take in win in 2:11:25. It was the first marathon victory for Tsegaye Getachew,who debuted over the classic distance in 2018 and set a career best of 2:09:24 last year in Shanghai.
The men’s race saw a crowded leading group of 18 runners early in the race Mequanent launched his charge after 39km and this only Tsegaye managed to match his pace. The duo remained together for some two kilometers until Tsegaye finally edged out Mequanenet who trailed three seconds behind to take second place. Kenya’s Mathew Kiptoo trimmed more than three minutes off his PB to finish third in 2:11:45.