The 33rd edition of the Paris Marathon took place Sunday from the Avenue des Champs Elysees. The winner of the 42km run was 21-year-old Kenyan Vincent Kipruto, who came in at a record-breaking 2 hours, 5 minutes, 44 seconds.

The previous record holder for the Paris marathon was another Kenyan, Mike Rotitch, who completed the 2003 marathon in 2 hours, 6 minutes, 33 seconds.

On the women’s side, Ethiopian Atsede Bayisa finished ahead with a time of 2h 24 min 41 sec. Frenchwoman Christelle Daunay came in third in the women’s division, at 2 h 45 min 42 sec.

Marathon de Paris, April 5

THE virtually unknown Vincent Kipruto took an important victory at the Paris Marathon, as he broke away from the Ethiopian debutant Bado Worku just before the 40km point, in a race which produced tremendous depth as six athletes dipped under the 2:07-barrier and eleven under the 2:09-barrier.

Similarly to previous editions of the race, the opening 10km is always fast and today was no exception as a group of approximately 20 athletes braved an opening split of 29:51 and to many people’s surprise, the large phalanx of predominantly East African athletes were still bunched together through halfway in 62:44, which was on schedule for something easily inside the course record of 2:06:33.

After the pacemaker Henry Sugut dropped out at the 30km point, having done a commendable job, the pace slowed in the next kilometre, until Kipruto moved to the front and in the space of two kilometres, the leading group had splintered through 35km (1:44:58), and only seven athletes were in contention for the title and the winning prize of 50,000 euros.

At the 38km point, Kipruto began to markedly accelerate in a similar fashion to last year’s winner Tsegaye Kebede and the 21-year-old, who was only running in his second marathon, set a massive PB of 2:05:47, which improved his debut performance of 2:08:16 when he was third in Reims last October.

Worku, only 20, could not add the Paris Marathon crown to his Paris half-marathon victory but his debut of 2:06:15 was highly laudable.

David Kiyeng, a two-time winner of the Reims Marathon was third in a PB of 2:06:26, whilst the two big improvers were Ethiopia’s Yemane Adhane and Morocco’s Rashid Kisri in fourth and fifth. Adhane, running his fourth marathon in just over five months lowered his PB from 2:10:48 to 2:06:30, whilst Kisri lowered his PB from 2:10:33 to 2:06:48.

David Mandago, second in Chicago last October was sixth in 2:06:53.

In the women’s race, Atsede Bayisa shattered her lifetime best of 2:29:08 by some margin. The 21-year-old pulled away in the final 2km from her compatriot and the pre-race favourite Aselefech Mergia to clock a winning time of 2:24:42, whilst Mergia, the silver medallist from the World Half Marathon Championships made a solid debut (2:25:02.)

There was also a big improvement from the Frenchwoman Christelle Daunay, who improved her national record from 2:28:24 to 2:25:43, courtesy of very even halfway splits of 72:48 and 72:55.

All-time marathon lists
1. Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) – 2:03:59 – Berlin 2008
2. Duncan Kibet (KEN) – 2:04:27 – Rotterdam 2009
= James Kwambai (KEN) – 2:04:27 – Rotterdam 2009
4. Paul Tergat (KEN) – 2:04:55 – Berlin 2003
5. Sammy Korir (KEN) – 2:04:56 – Berlin 2003
6. Abel Kirui (KEN) – 2:05:04 – Rotterdam 2009
7. Martin Lel (KEN) – 2:05:15 – London 2008
8. Sammy Wanjiru (KEN) – 2:05:24 – London 2008
9. Abderrahim Goumri (MAR) – 2:05:30 – London 2008
10. Khalid Khannouchi (USA) – 2:05:38 – London 2002
11. Wilson Kipruto (KEN) – 2:05:47 – Paris 2009
12. William Kipsang (KEN) – 2:05:49 – Rotterdam 2008

Best times for places list
1st – Haile Gebrselassie (ETH) – 2:03:59 – Berlin 2008
2nd – Duncan Kibet (KEN) – 2:04:27 – Rotterdam 2009
3rd – Abel Kirui (KEN) – 2:05:04 – Rotterdam 2009
4th – Patrick Makau (KEN) – 2:06:10 – Rotterdam 2009
5th – Ryan Hall (USA) – 2:06:17 – London 2008
6th – Deriba Merga (ETH) – 2:06:38 – London 2008
7th – Jonathan Kipkorir (KEN) – 2:07:31 – Paris 2009
8th – Shadrack Kiplagat (KEN) – 2:08:11 – Paris 2009
9th – John Kipkorir Komen (KEN) – 2:08:12 – Paris 2009
10th – Daniel Kiptoo (KEN) – 2:08:38 – Paris 2009
11th – Abraham Chelanga (KEN) – 2:08:43 – Paris 2009
12th – Francis Kibiwott (KEN) – 2:09:13 – Paris 2009
13th – James Rotich (KEN) – 2:10:23 – Paris 2008
14th – James Theuri (FRA) – 2:10:39 – Paris 2009
15th – Mikhail Lemaev (RUS) – 2:10:41 – Paris 2009
16th – Deriba Deme (ETH) – 2:10:50 – Paris 2009
17th – Philemon Baaru (KEN) – 2:11:05 – Paris 2009