Yihuniligne Adane and Meseret Gebre Dekebo win and break the record of the Zurich Marató Barcelona 2022

This Sunday, the 43rd Zurich Maratón Barcelona has returned and it has done it at a record pace. With a temperature of 16°C at 8h (race start time), a humidity of 52% and a clear sky, the participants lived the moments before the start between emotion and nerves, enlivened with the melody of the Catalan musicians Liberto Fortuny and Mireia Farrés who interpreted the Barcelona of Montserrat Caballé and Freddie Mercury.

Third male record of the race in 3 years and second consecutive in the female category

It was a successful day. On the 30th anniversary of Barcelona 92 and precisely for the third consecutive year, the men and women record of the Zurich Marató Barcelona has been beaten. So, in this edition, it has been done twice, both in men and in women, and the fastest runners have all been athletes from Ethiopia.

Yihuniligne Adane (02:05:53) and Gebru Redahgne (02:05:58), first and second in the Marató respectively, lowered the 2021 record set by Samuel Kosgei (02:06:03) by 10 seconds. For his part, the third man was Kebede Wamin (02:06:03), matching Kosgei’s time. At the 32nd kilometre, the Kenyan Mike Boit was on his own until the 40th kilometre, when Adane, Redahgne and Wami overtook him and took the lead of the race.

“I was confident in myself, I was convinced I could win here. This morning I was very focused and in a good shape. Yesterday, we had been looking over the record time and I was convinced I could do it. I’m very happy and I think it’s an ideal circuit to set a record here in Barcelona”, explained Yihuniligne Adane.

In the women’s category, last year’s record was also broken. Meseret Gebre Dekebo (02:23:11) beat Tadu Teshome 2021 record (02:23:52) by 40 seconds. Ayantu Kumela (02:25:00) was second and third place went to Zenebu Fikadu (02:25:11). “I am very happy. I have been training very hard since I won in San Sebastian. I have done my personal best time and I am very happy. Thanks to the good weather conditions in Barcelona, I was able to achieve my goal. I loved the course and I thank my coordinator for having faith in me”, said Dekebo.

As for the 10K BCN – La Marató en 10K, the winners were Adrián Guirado in the male category (31:08) and Txell Jarque in the female category (36:05). In addition, the former Olympic athlete and World Marathon champion, Abel Antón, also participated in this reduced format of the Marató: “It is very special for me to come back to Barcelona on the 30th birthday of Barcelona 92, where I was eighth. I have came as a Zurich runner because it is the main and traditional sponsor and because it is necessary to do these initiatives to collaborate with the situation in Ukraine, because what they are going through cannot be normalised“, said Antón. Finally, in this other distance, there have been a total of 1,812 finishers and a total of 4,941 euros have been raised to help the refugees of the conflict in Ukraine.

A very festive day
6.000 finishers have lived a magical experience running the 42km. Athletes and citizens enjoyed a real sports party. On Friday 6th of May the atmosphere was already warming up with the Runner’s Fair (Expo Sports) and on Saturday 7th of May with the Breakfast Run and the Kids Race, culminating today with the Marató, with a strong female participation of 25% and 27% of foreigners, and in the 10km in solidarity with refugees and refugees from Ukraine, 45% of women.

The Zurich Barcelona Marató 2023 and the eDreams Mitja Marató Barcelona 2023 have already set their dates
The two great long distance running events in Barcelona already have a date. The Zurich Marató Barcelona 2023 will take place on 19th of March and the eDreams Mitja Marató Barcelona 2023 will be held one month earlier, on 19th of February.