Tuitoek and Koech power to Hamburg Marathon victory, Chebet claims course record in Linz

Dorcas Tuitoek knew the moment to strike in a dramatic Hamburg Marathon on Sunday morning and when she did, she won the race and recorded a personal best time of 2:20:09.

The Kenyan, making her second appearance in the full marathon since her debut in the Valencia Marathon in December 2021, took advantage of an unfortunate event that occurred in the last stretch of the race as leader Tiruye Mesfin suffered cramp and stumbled, allowing Tuitoek to close down and eventually pick up the race win.

Tiruye came in second clocking 2:20:18 with Uganda’s Stella Chesang wrapping up the top three positions with a time of 2:20:23.

Another Kenyan, Marion Kibor - came in fourth timing 2:22:35 with the performance of the day going to Fabienne Königstein who, just nine months after the birth of her daughter, finished eighth with a time of 2:25:48, staying more than a minute below the Olympic norm for Paris. She improved her best time by almost seven minutes.

Tuitoek’s last performance came in a superb win at the Rome half in March where she clocked a personal best time of 1:06:21.

In the men’s race, Kenya’s Bernard Koech claimed his personal best time of 2:04:09 on his way to victory, finishing ahead of Kenyan mates Joshua Belet and Martin Kosgei who completed a podium sweep clocking 2:04:33 and 2:06:18 respectively.

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Belet was making his marathon debut while Kosgei recorded his personal best time.

Elsewhere at the Linz Donau marathon on Sunday, 31-year-old Kenyan Teclah Chebet beat her personal best by three minutes and set a new course record in the women's marathon event with 2:27:18.

"I am overjoyed. That I achieved a personal best time in these changeable conditions makes me really happy,” Chebet said shortly after the race.

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Prior to Sunday, Brenda Jerotich Kiprono held the women's best of 2:30:27 set in 2021.

In the men’s category, Kenya’s Evans Kimtia Kiprono, who ran a strong race as a pacemaker, came in second in a time of 2:09:56 followed by country mate Rutto Kembio Jackson who clocked 2:12:02.