Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia won the Beijing Marathon on Sunday 18 October in 2:03:10, lowering the course record by nearly four minutes. The 35-year-old ran at Beijing Olympic Park in a race that also served as the Chinese National Marathon Championships, according to reports from the Xinhua news agency.
The previous course record of 2:07:06 had stood since 2019, when Kenya's Mathew Kipkoech Kisorio set it. Tola did not merely edge past it: the winning time was a little under four minutes quicker, and two of his compatriots also finished inside the old mark.
Muktar Edris was second in 2:04:34 and Adane Kebede Gebre third in 2:05:10, completing an Ethiopian clean sweep of the men's podium. That all three men beat a record that had lasted seven years underlines how much faster the event has become as its field has strengthened.
In the women's race, Ethiopia's Anchinalu Dessie Genaneh defended her title in 2:20:36. Cirencuomu of China took second place and Lu Ying, also of China, was third; finishing times for the two Chinese runners were not available in the reports seen at the time of writing.
The results come from Xinhua coverage, as official timing sheets and split times had not been published when this report was filed, and the figures may be updated. The performance adds to a strong autumn marathon season that has already produced fast times in Chicago, Amsterdam and Cologne.