Bernard Koech chasing three-peat in April's Hamburg marathon
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Reading Time: 3min | Sun. 22.02.26. | 08:46
The marathoner remains unbeaten in this race after two starts
This year's Haspa Marathon Hamburg will feature a strong international men’s field headlined by two-time champion Bernard Koech when the event is staged for the 40th time on 26 April.
Koech returns, since his victory in 2024, as the favorite on paper, but the Kenyan will not be the only one who comes back with great memories.
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He is joined on the field by Stephen Kissa, who ran a national record on the same field, and the Ugandan will be among the strong favourites as will be Germany’s former national record holder Samuel Fitwi, who could produce a strong performance and cause a surprise.
“We are looking forward to another thrilling race. Hopefully, we will get very fast times again and are able to continue our recent success story of recording the best results of all German top marathon races, as was the case in 2025, a reflection of the strong development of the event in the past couple of years," said chief organizer Frank Thaleiser.
Koech is unbeaten on the streets of Hamburg. In 2023, Koech tied his personal best (PB) here with 2:04:09. While this remains his best time in the classic distance, the following year he won with 2:04:24.
In spring last year, Koech ran the Seoul Marathon, where he was third in 2:05:50.
“Hamburg is like a second home for me. I am really looking forward to come back once more,“ said 38-year-old Koech.
Making it three victories out of three starts will come with quite a challenge for Koech, as Kissa, who ran a spectacular marathon debut in Hamburg when he finished runner-up just a second behind Kenyan winner Cybrian Kotut in 2022, is confident of a good showing.
Kissa clocked 2:04:48 in his debut, which was a national record at that time and remains his PB.
Meanwhile, Abdisa Tola is another very strong athlete with the potential to go for victory. The 25-year-old Ethiopian, who is the younger brother to the 2024 Olympic Marathon Champion Tamirat Tola, won his debut marathon in Dubai with 2:05:42 in 2023.
Last year he came close to this PB when he placed third in Osaka with 2:05:52.
Elsewhere, Fitwi might well challenge for a place on the podium if he can build similar form as in 2024. Two years ago he qualified for the Olympic Games, where he then finished in 15th position.
Later in 2024 Fitwi, who trains in Addis Ababa, caused an upset by breaking the German record with 2:04:56 in Valencia, improving Amanal Petros' mark by two seconds. While this remains his PB, he has lost the record to Petros in the meantime.
Two more German runners are on the elite start list: Sebastian Hendel returns to Hamburg, where he placed tenth and ran his first sub-2:10:00 time two years ago (2:08:51). Since then, he has improved his PB to 2:07:33.
Aaron Bienenfeld, who clocked a promising 61:15 PB at the Houston Half Marathon in January, will be making his debut in the classic distance.
