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 at the age of 41. 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's win was his first in three years, following his victory in Berlin in 2023. The Melbourne Marathon course took participants down St Kilda Road, past Flinders Street Station, around Albert Park Lake, before a finish inside the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). ABC News reported that Kipchoge broke away inside the last 10 kilometres of the 42.2km race, finishing 2 seconds inside the previous race best.

In the women's race, New Zealand's Camille French took the top spot with a time of 2:28:25. The top three finishers in the men's and women's races were rounded out by Australians Thomas Do Canto and Reece Edwards, and Irish runner Nichola Sheridan, respectively.

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