Ethiopians dominated the field once again at the Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon on Friday.
Worknesh Degefa continued her great form in Dubai as she clinched the women’s title with a time of 2:19.37, while in the men’s section Olika Adugna Bikila emerged victorious with a time of 2:06.15 in a strong field featuring major city marathon winners and athletes with more than 35 international wins between them.
Degefa was in her elements at her favourite hunting ground. The 29-year-old set a personal best while finishing second last year. Before that, Degefa won in 2017 and finished fourth a year later in Dubai. On Friday, Degefa made an aggressive start before settling in for a comfortable win by 33 seconds.
The men's section saw a thrilling finale as 11 runners finished the marathon with a time of two hours and six minutes. It was the most in any marathon in history, according to letsrun.com.
All top 11 runners ran in a packed lead bunch and it was Bikila who secured victory and the winner’s cheque of $100,000 (Dh367,000).
