SYDNEY :Olympic gold medallists Eliud Kipchoge and Sifan Hassan headline the Sydney Marathon this weekend as the 25-year-old race welcomes its best-ever field to celebrate its elevation to the World Marathon Majors series.
Rio and Tokyo marathon winner Kipchoge and Hassan, the reigning women’s Olympic champion, will lead 35,000 runners across the Harbour Bridge on Sunday as Sydney joins New York, London, Boston, Chicago, Tokyo and Berlin on the elite circuit.
Hassan, who will miss the athletics world championships for the first time in a decade after deciding to run in Sydney, looks the more likely of the two headliners to break the tape outside the iconic Opera House.
Former world record holder Kipchoge was once all but unbeatable over 26.2 miles (42.2 km) but the Kenyan is now 40 and without a marathon victory since his fifth Berlin win, and 11th Marathon Major triumph, in 2023.
“First and foremost, running at 40 is a privilege, and running at 40 actually is a success, and I’m happy that my feet are still handling training,” he told a news conference on Thursday.
“I believe that legacy is not (defined) because of medals, legacy is not (defined) because of records, but legacy is (defined) when we inspire someone.”
Kipchoge’s younger compatriot Vincent Ngetich and Ethiopian stablemate Birhanu Legese, the seventh fastest marathon runner of all time, will also be vying for the title on the last day of the Australian winter.
Hassan, already the third-fastest woman of all time over the distance, won the London and Chicago races in 2023 before last year’s Paris triumph but was third in her one previous outing this year in the British capital.
On Sunday, the 32-year-old will take on Kenya’s former world record holder Brigid Kosgei as well as Ethiopian Workenesh Edesa, who won last year’s Sydney race in an impressive two hours, 21 minutes and 41 seconds.
“The city is really beautiful,” said Hassan. “I don’t know about the course, but I think the winner will love it more.”
The torrential rain that has poured down on Sydney for more than a month finally cleared this week, and the blue skies and cool temperatures are forecast to remain for Sunday.
That was a relief to Race Director Wayne Larden, who has overseen the growth of the Sydney Marathon since 2005 when there were 2,300 finishers.
“Two weeks back, I was starting to wonder, is this going to stop?” he told Reuters.
“We’re very lucky. I’m so happy because the city and the harbour and everything looks so much more beautiful in the bright sunshine.”
More than 4,000 of Sunday’s runners will be looking for a seventh “star” to add to those they have earned by completing the other six races in the World Marathon Majors series.
The Sydney field is 10,000 up on last year but still smaller than some of the six other races. A record 56,640 runners finished the London Marathon in April.
“It’s our plan to grow year-on-year until we get to the level where we think it’s comfortable,” Larden added.
“However, we’re not going to be trying to be the biggest. We want to try to be the best, and the most fun, and the most beautiful.”
