Ethiopia’s Jirata Dinki won the 43rd Mainova Frankfurt Marathon on Sunday 25 October in 2:05:26, a personal best, after bridging to the leaders at around 37 kilometres and pulling clear with roughly two kilometres remaining. Running only the third marathon of his career, Dinki finished 20 seconds ahead of Germany’s European champion Amanal Petros, who clocked 2:05:46. Kenya’s Benard Biwott, the 2024 winner, completed the podium in 2:06:23.
The weather shaped the race from the start. Heavy rain and wind made the men’s pursuit of Petros’s German record of 2:04:03 unrealistic, and the field adjusted accordingly. Petros’s run is nonetheless the fastest time by a German in Frankfurt and the first time a German man has stood on the podium in the city in more than 25 years. Richard Ringer finished fifth in 2:07:07 and Samuel Fitwi was seventh in 2:08:57, giving the home contingent a strong collective showing.
In the women’s race Ethiopia’s Zeineba Yimer won in 2:19:45, the sixth-fastest winning time in the history of the event. The headline performance, however, came behind her. Germany’s Blanka Dörfel, making her marathon debut, finished second in 2:20:46, which makes her the second-fastest German woman of all time and the eighth-fastest European. Dörfel ran without a watch and only learned her time on reaching the finish area. Ethiopia’s Beriha Gebreslasie took third in 2:22:46.
The race also marked a changing of the guard off the course. A record 19,720 runners from 128 countries entered, and it was the final event for race director Jo Schindler after 25 years in the role. Holger Kranz succeeds him, and the event now has London Marathon Events as its strategic partner following that organisation’s acquisition of the organiser, Motion Events, announced earlier this year.
For Dinki, the result is a significant step in a short marathon career, and for German distance running it provides further evidence of depth behind Petros. The autumn road season now turns to New York on Sunday 1 November, where the focus shifts from fast courses to championship-style racing.