Paris Marathon: 44th edition this Sunday in the streets of Paris, the record broken by the Kenyan Elisha Rotich

This Sunday, Paris hosted the marathon, after more than 30 months of waiting due to the health crisis.

Part of the Champs-Élysées, the 42.195 km long event led the runners to the east of Paris via Opéra and the Bastille to the Bois de Vincennes, before returning west via the quays of the Seine to the Bois from Boulogne and on arrival Porte Dauphine. Thirty months after its last edition in April 2019, with two postponements and one cancellation in 2020, then a date set for the fall rather than the spring in 2021, the Parisian event has allowed tens of thousands of fans to return to the Parisian asphalt, subject to presenting a sanitary pass and wearing a mask in the starting area.

Kenenisa Bekele’s record was broken during this 44th edition this Sunday in the streets of Paris, by the Kenyan Elisha Rotich, 31, in 2h04’21 ” and smashed the record set in 2014 by the Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele in 2h05′04 ′ ′.

Elisha Rotich is the fifteenth Kenyan to win on the streets of Paris, since the creation of the event in 1976 by the late Raymond Lorre. He had rocked the peloton several times starting at kilometer 30, skimming the leading group as they attacked. But it was really after 37.5 km of racing that he took the blow to find himself alone in the lead, reaching the finish alone. At 31, the Kenyan wins the greatest success of his career and improves his personal best by almost a minute (2:05:18) which dated from the Amsterdam marathon 2019. He is ahead of the Ethiopian Hailemaryam Kiros (2:04 ’41) and another Kenyan, Hillary Kipsambu (2:04:44), who finished 20 and 23 seconds behind the winner respectively.

The top five riders finished below the previous record. The best Frenchman, Yohan Durand, finished the race in 15th place in 2h 09 min 21 sec, winning the title of champion of France. He thus becomes the 13th Frenchman in history under 2h10 ‘, almost certainly offering himself a selection for the French team this summer at the European Championships in Munich, or even at the Eugene Worlds, even if no minimum ‘was again established by a French Athletics Federation. The second Frenchman is Abderrazak Charik, 17th in 2h12’59 ”.

In the women’s race, a trio of Ethiopians won the podium in the absence of the big names in the discipline: Tigist Memuye came out on top in 2:26:11, ahead of Yenenesh Dinkesa (2:26:14 ) and Fantu Jimma (2 h 26 min 21 s). Memuye, 31, however, did not do any better than the Geneva marathon last May, which she finished in second place in a time of 2h 24 min 23 sec, her personal best. The best Frenchwoman, Alice Mendes, finished in 11th place, in 2 h 42 min 23 s.

The Frenchman Julien Casoli has also won in the wheelchair disabled category for the 4th time in his career. With a time of 1 hour and 33 minutes, he is 2’57 ahead of Briton Sean Frame.

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