Barcelona Marathon Shockers
Fotyen Tesfay won the Barcelona Marathon in a debut time of 2:10:53 — the second-fastest women's marathon ever — and Abel Chelangat took the men's title as 32,000 runners poured onto the streets today, cementing Barcelona among Europe's biggest road races Marato Barcelona marathon 2026: Fotyen Tesfay, Abel Chelangat secure victories - full results.
She hit 10km in 31:05, the halfway mark in 1:05:05, reached 30km in 1:32:00 and passed 40km in 2:03:31 during the race. worldathletics.org Those early tempos were set while she ran tucked behind two male pacemakers who carried the race through the 30km point. worldathletics.org The winning margin was huge — almost eight minutes clear of the runner-up — with Joan Jepkosgei Kiplimo and Zeineba Yimer clocking 2:18:42 and 2:18:49 respectively. worldathletics.org In the men’s contest the decisive move came after 40km when Abel Chelangat accelerated off a water station; his race was split through 40km in 1:58:40 and the top three finished within 32 seconds of one another. worldathletics.org Organisers billed the Zurich Marató Barcelona as a World Athletics Elite-label race, and the event sold out months in advance as the biggest edition in the race’s recent history. worldathletics.org Race organisers reported the Barcelona course record was lowered dramatically compared with previous years, with the winning performance cutting the event record by roughly nine minutes on the optimized route. zurichmaratobarcelona.es The winner, 28, arrives off top-10 track placings at Paris 2024 and Tokyo 2025 and told broadcasters she targeted the 2:09:56 world record next, adding that strong winds hampered her in the closing kilometres. worldathletics.org
