Gerda Steyn wins a fifth Comrades in 5:44:53, five minutes inside her own up run record
Steyn dropped Nobukhosi Tshuma on the last climb to win by eight minutes, her fourth straight title; Irvette van Zyl was third.
Photograph: Gerda Steyn at the 2026 Marathon des Alpes, four weeks before Comrades, by Johann Conus, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsGerda Steyn won the Comrades Marathon for the fifth time on Sunday, in 5:44:53. It was the up run, Durban to Pietermaritzburg, and her own record for that direction was 5:49:46 from 2024. She took four minutes and 53 seconds off it. It is her fourth win in a row and her third on the up run.
Steyn, Nobukhosi Tshuma of Zimbabwe and Shelmith Muriuki of Kenya ran together for much of the morning. Steyn and Tshuma went away on the descent from Inchanga, and Steyn dropped Tshuma on the last climb and finished eight minutes clear. Tshuma was second in 5:53:36. Irvette van Zyl passed Muriuki at around 70 km for third in 6:02:30; Muriuki was fourth in 6:06:38 and Britain's Naomi Robinson fifth in 6:07:55. Courtney Olsen was the first American, seventh in 6:11:20.
Only one woman has won Comrades more often: Elena Nurgalieva, eight times. Steyn's average pace, 4:01.24 per km, was her fastest yet on the up run. Like George Kusche in the men's race, she collected R2,322,000 in prize money, bonuses and record incentives. In the organiser's release she said she can't imagine her life without this race.
Five wins, and she is still taking minutes off her own records. Comrades belongs to her for as long as she wants it.
Sources: Comrades Marathon; iRunFar; Wikipedia; eNCA.
