This athletics great says the Melbourne Marathon track was the ‘best ever’

Eliud Kipchoge, widely regarded as the greatest marathon runner of all time, won the Melbourne Marathon on Sunday in a course record time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, and 10 seconds. This victory marked his 17th win over the distance and his first in three years, following his win in Berlin in 2023. According to Channel News Asia, Kipchoge is attempting to run a marathon on all seven continents over two years, having launched his continental campaign at the Cape Town Marathon in May.

Kipchoge, 41, broke away from the pack in the last 10 kilometres of the 42.2km race, which took participants down St Kilda Road, past Flinders Street Station, around Albert Park Lake, before a finish inside the Melbourne Cricket Ground. ABC News reported that he was waving to the crowd on the half-lap inside the MCG to the finish, which may have cost him a few seconds.

In the women's race, New Zealand's Camille French won in 2:28:25, followed by Australia's Sinead Diver at 2:28:49 and Ireland's Nichola Sheridan at 2:29:13. The top three men's finishers were Kipchoge, Thomas Do Canto in 2:10:35, and Reece Edwards in 2:14:33, according to Channel News Asia.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Sydney Morning Herald, Channel News Asia, ABC News, ABC News AU, The Age — 5 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.