South Africa’s Olympic marathoner Gerda Steyn continued her busy 2024 when she finished 19th in the Valencia Marathon in Spain on Sunday. She crossed the line in 2hr 28min 14sec in a race where Ethiopia’s Megertu Alemu took almost two minutes off her personal best to claim the women’s title in 2:15.49.
Kenya’s Sebastian Sawe won the men’s race in 2:02.05, which was the fastest time in the world for 2024 and also slotted him in at fifth on the all-time list of marathons on his debut for the 42.2km distance.
Only compatriots Kelvin Kiptum and Eliud Kipchoge and the Ethiopian pair of Kenenisa Bekele and Sisay Lemma, have gone faster than Sawe, the world half-marathon champion in 2023.
South Africa’s Adam Lipschitz ran the race of his career when he crossed the line in 25th position but in a time of 2:08.51, which carved over four minutes off his entry time of 2:13.01.
Steyn’s time was slower than the South African record she had set in the race last year, with a 2:24.03. That mark was recently lowered by Glenrose Xaba in her debut over the distance, in Cape Town, where she broke the tape in 2:22.22.
“This race was a tale of two halves where the first 20km felt exactly how I envisioned it to be but the second half not so much,” she wrote on Instagram. “My time is not what I planned to run or what my training indicated but in sport you can’t always draw a straight line.
“I had bad stomach cramps from 20km on but if you know me you’ll know that I never make excuses. I didn’t know whether I should have just called it a day and stopped but I knew that a DNF would have been mentally way worse than a less-than-ideal finishing time. So, I did what I could and now I have a medal.
“I am looking at 2024 was a whole and can truly say that t has been an incredibly good one, from training to racing and everything in between.”
The marathon went ahead in Valencia just a month after floods swept through the Spanish city.
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