Kibiwot takes the Rome Marathon course record by eight seconds; Rutto wins again

Rome ran its marathon on Sunday in the best conditions it could ask for: 12 C, no wind, bright sky. More than 30,000 people started at the foot of the Colosseum at 8:10 and finished at the Circus Maximus, the first race of the European Marathon Classics circuit.

Pascaline Kibiwot of Kenya took the women's course record. The lead group stayed together through halfway in 1:10:23 and broke up soon after; defending champion Betty Chepkwony had already dropped out after about an hour. From 25 km Kibiwot ran alone with her pacer, Wilfred Kiplagat, watching her margin on Alemu Megertu's 2:22:52 shrink as the pace faded. She held on, finished in 2:22:44, eight seconds under the record and a personal best, and collapsed at the line. Genet Tadesse Robi of Ethiopia was second in 2:24:55 and Aberash Fayesa Robi third in 2:25:43.

The men went through 5 km in 14:58 and 10 km in 29:44 in a group of about twenty, aiming near 2:05, with Dominic Kiprono pacing through halfway in 1:02:36. Defending champion Robert Ngeno dropped after 25 km. Three were left late: Asbel Rutto, Henry Tukor Kichana and Ethiopia's Lencho Tesfaye Anbesa. Rutto and Kichana went clear with 5 km to run, and with a kilometre left Rutto made the move Kichana could not answer. He won in 2:06:32, four seconds ahead, a repeat of his 2024 win and a few seconds outside the course record he set that year. Anbesa was third in 2:07:44.

France's Brice Daubord, 40, was the first European in 15th, 2:19:40, with a negative split. Luca Parisi was the first Italian.

A record won by eight seconds and a race won by four. Rome's cobbles do not give anything away.

Sources: Marathons.com; Quotidiano Sportivo.