Suldan Hassan wins Göteborgsvarvet by one second from Sondre Nordstad Moen
The Gothenburg local won the 55,000-runner half marathon in 1:03:30 into a strong wind; Meraf Bahta's 1:13:03 was the first Swedish women's win in 24 years.
Photograph: Suldan Hassan at Hytteplanmila 2024 in Norway, by Ssu, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsGöteborgsvarvet is a half marathon through Gothenburg with about 55,000 entrants, run on Saturday 23 May for the 46th time. The wind was strong over much of the course and the men's race turned tactical. Suldan Hassan, who is from the city, won it for the second year in a row in 1:03:30, nine seconds faster than last year, with Norway's Sondre Nordstad Moen a second behind in 1:03:31 after a sprint between the two of them. Zerei Kbrom Mezngi of Norway was third in 1:04:37. Hassan told SVT it felt like a championship, man against man.
Meraf Bahta led the women's race from the start and ran alone to the finish in 1:13:03, 58 seconds ahead of Samrawit Mengsteab, 1:14:01, with Denmark's Sylvia Kiberenge third in 1:14:12. She had wanted to go under 70 minutes and said the wind made that impossible. She is the first Swedish woman to win the race in 24 years. Oskar Kardin, who won the Vasaloppet ski marathon this winter, ran 1:11:18 for 23rd.
The organisers' figures: runners from 64 countries, a record 44 per cent of entries from women, and a combined distance of about 24 laps of the earth. Among runners aged 21 to 25, women were 55 per cent of the field.
Sixty-four countries and a winner from the home town, decided by a second in a headwind. The big city races are at their best when the local wins.
Sources: Göteborgsvarvet; SVT; Göteborgsvarvet.
