Petros and Vainio win the European marathon titles on the streets of Birmingham
Petros, so often the runner-up, won in 2:09:11 from Pietro Riva; Vainio ran a championship record 2:22:26 and won by five minutes.
Photograph: Alisa Vainio running the 2026 Finlandia Marathon, by Matthäus Gehägeberg, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsThe European Championships closed on Sunday morning with the marathons through Birmingham. Amanal Petros of Germany won the men's race in 2:09:11 and Alisa Vainio of Finland the women's in 2:22:26, a championship record.
Petros had spent his career as the man in second. This was his first title at a major marathon, and it was close to the end: Pietro Riva of Italy was seven seconds back in 2:09:18, Gashau Ayale of Israel third in 2:09:21, Suldan Hassan of Sweden fourth in 2:09:24 and Tadesse Getahon, also of Israel, fifth in 2:09:31. Five men inside 20 seconds after 42 kilometres.
Vainio's race was nothing like it. The pre-race favourite ran alone at the front and finished about five minutes clear. Hungary's Lili Anna Vindics-Tóth took silver in 2:27:21, Britain's Abbie Donnelly bronze in 2:27:33, with Nóra Szabó of Hungary 2:27:39 and Natasha Wilson of Britain 2:27:54. Ireland's Paul O'Donnell was 43rd in 2:20:41.
On the track the same day, Georgia Hunter Bell won the women's 1500 m in 4:07.78 from Klaudia Kazimierska and Patricia Silva.
One marathon decided by seven seconds, the other by five minutes, on the same roads an hour apart. Same distance, two different sports.
Sources: Marathon Handbook; Athletics Ireland.
