Geoffrey Kipchumba will return to the TCS Amsterdam Marathon on Sunday 18 October with a clear target: to beat the 2:03:30 course record he set in the city last year. That run was the fastest marathon ever recorded on Dutch soil, and the 26-year-old Kenyan arrives having finished second in Tokyo earlier this year in 2:03:37. The race, a World Athletics Platinum Label event, is part of a weekend that runs from Saturday 17 to Sunday 18 October.
The field around him is one of the strongest in the history of the event, with ten men holding personal bests under 2:05. The most obvious threat is Ethiopia's Tsegaye Getachew, who won in Amsterdam in 2022 and 2024 and was second last year in a personal best of 2:04:18. Getachew was unable to respond to Kipchumba's late move twelve months ago, and the 29-year-old will be looking to turn that around.
Depth is provided by Hayamanot Alew, the 28-year-old Ethiopian with a 2:03:31 personal best from finishing third at the 2024 Berlin Marathon. Lemi Berhanu, who won the 2025 Prague Marathon, brings a best of 2:04:33, while Israel's Maru Teferi, who ran 2:04:44 in Valencia in 2024, completes a group capable of testing the record if the pace is set aggressively.
There is also a debutant to watch in Isaia Kipkoech Lasoi, a 26-year-old Kenyan who has run 58:10 for the half marathon. That speed marks him out as a talent, although the step up to the full distance is rarely straightforward and the Amsterdam course will give him little time to learn. Whether he is prepared to go with the leaders, or sits back and runs his own race, will be one of the early talking points.
Amsterdam has built a reputation as a fast, flat course that rewards even pacing, and last year's record came from a late surge rather than a high-risk early effort. With weather the major unknown at this time of year, the race will be a useful guide to form for the athletes and their sponsors heading into the winter marathon season, with Frankfurt on 25 October and the TCS New York City Marathon on 1 November to follow.