Agnes Ngetich will make her marathon debut at the Maratón Valencia Trinidad Alfonso on 6 December, race organisers confirmed on Thursday. The 25-year-old Kenyan, who won both the world cross country and world half marathon titles this year, will step up to the full distance in the city where she has produced most of her defining performances, and she arrives as one of the most anticipated debutantes the event has staged.
Valencia is familiar ground. Ngetich set the 10km world record of 28:46 at the 10K Valencia Ibercaja in January 2024, and she won the Valencia Half Marathon in both 2024 and 2025. Her Kenyan record of 1:03:04 for the half marathon and her 5km best of 14:13 were also set in the city, and both rank second on the world all-time lists. At the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen in September she won the half marathon in 1:05:15, a women-only world record, and her most recent race was a 1:04:23 victory at the Tokyo Legacy Half Marathon in October. Canadian Running reports that she has won seven of the eight races she has entered in 2026.
The obvious yardstick is Fotyen Tesfay, who is also in the field. The Ethiopian ran 2:10:51 to win the Barcelona Marathon in March, the fastest women's debut in history, an Ethiopian record and the second-quickest marathon ever run by a woman. She has since won the Buenos Aires Half Marathon in 1:03:57. Joyciline Jepkosgei, who won in Valencia last year in 2:14:00, returns to defend her title, giving the women's race a blend of proven marathon pedigree and raw half marathon speed.
LetsRun reports that a €1 million bonus is on offer for a world record, which would add a significant incentive on a course that has become the fastest on the autumn calendar. Ngetich's half marathon times suggest she has the speed to challenge the very fastest marks, but the step from 21.1km to 42.2km has humbled many brilliant half marathoners, and how she handles the final 10km on debut will be watched as closely as her finishing time. The organisers' own announcement struck an expectant note, saying she has already made history on Valencia's streets and now dreams of doing so again over a new distance.
The men's race is equally strong. Defending champion John Korir, who won the Boston Marathon in a course record of 2:01:52 in April, returns alongside Yomif Kejelcha, the half marathon world record holder who ran 1:59:41 on his London debut, and Alexander Mutiso, the 2024 London champion with a best of 2:03:11. With Ngetich now confirmed, Valencia has assembled a pair of fields capable of producing some of the fastest times of the year three weeks from Sunday.