Bekele loses to junior at London Marathon 2024

27-year-old Kenyan runner Mutiso Munyao sprinted past legend Kenenisa Bekele to win the 2024 London Marathon in 2 hours 4 minutes 1 second.

Over the past 20 years, Bekele has established himself as a world-class runner, winning three Olympic gold medals and 19 world titles on the road and cross-country. The Ethiopian has continued his success in the marathon, winning two Berlin majors and clocking a PB of 2:01:41 at Berlin 2019. But he has never won in London, with his best results being third in 2016 and second in 2017, and he has failed to change the colour of his medal this year.

Bekele congratulates Munyao after completing the 2024 London Marathon on April 21. Photo: AFP

According to World Athletics, at the 2024 London Marathon on April 21, the elite men did not aim to break the world record of 2 hours 0 minutes 35 seconds as well as the race record of 2 hours 1 minute 25 seconds of the late legend Kelvin Kiptum.

But the leading group of 12 runners still started at a respectable pace, covering the first 5km in 14:35, 10km in 29:3 and 15km in 58:20. This group included Munyao, Bekele, 2022 world champion Tamirat Tola and 2021 Chicago champion Seifu Tura.

These runners covered the first 21.0975 km in 1 hour 1 minute 29 seconds, 80 seconds ahead of Emile Cairess - a solo British runner in 13th place, then reached the 30 km mark in 1 hour 27 minutes 20 seconds. The difference came after 1 hour 30 minutes, when the leading group was reduced to five people, namely Munyao, Bekele, Tola and two Ethiopian runners - Dawit Wolde and Milkesa Mengesha.

Less than 10 minutes later, Tola and Wolde were left behind, leaving only Bekele, Munyao and Mengesha to compete for the lead. Mengesha maintained his pace for another five minutes before starting to lose steam, unable to keep up with his two rivals.

As the clock ticked down to 1:55, Munyao accelerated and gradually left Bekele behind - the 41-year-old runner had difficulty catching up with his junior. Munyao maintained his lead and finished first in 2:4:1, while Bekele took second place in 2:4:15 - the best result for an athlete over 40 in the marathon.

Munyao won the 2024 London Marathon. Photo: AFP

Cairess finished third in 2:06:46, while compatriot Mahamed Mahamed finished fourth in 2:07:05 - both significantly improving their personal bests (PBs).

This is Munyao's first World Marathon Majors title. He previously won the 2023 Prague Marathon in 2 hours 5 minutes 9 seconds and then set a personal best (PB) of 2 hours 3 minutes 11 seconds to finish second at the 2023 Valencia Marathon. Munyao has also been shortlisted for the Kenyan marathon team for the 2024 Paris Olympics, although he was not on the preliminary list.

Hong Duy

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