On Thursday, the Valencia Marathon Trinidad Alfonso Zurich introduced the primary group of elites headlining the 2026 race on Dec. 6, with Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha and Fotyen Tesfay main a discipline filled with pace.
Each Kejelcha and Tesfay maintain the quickest marathon debuts in historical past and personal the second-fastest efficiency ever by a person and a girl over the space. Kejelcha ran 1:59:41 on the 2026 London Marathon to develop into the second man to interrupt the two-hour barrier over 42.2 kilometres, whereas Tesfay set her speedy debut of two:10:52 in March on the Zurich Barcelona Marathon.
Extensively thought to be one of many quickest marathon programs, Valencia persistently attracts runners from all over the world as they chase PBs. With Kejelcha and Tesfay already among the many quickest marathoners in historical past, each will arrive as main contenders to problem the course information.
Stiff competitors
Neither athlete could have a straightforward path to victory, with each defending champions returning. The Kenyan duo of John Korir and Joyciline Jepkosgei swept the 2025 Valencia Marathon, with Korir taking the title in 2:02:24 and Jepkosgei successful in a course file 2:14:00. Korir has since set the Boston Marathon course file to 2:01:52 when he gained in April. Jepkosgei ran the London Marathon in April, ending third in 2:15:55.
One other sturdy contender within the males’s discipline is Kenya’s Alexander Mutiso, who completed second on the 2025 TCS New York Metropolis Marathon in a photograph end with compatriot Benson Kipruto; they each ran 2:08:09, however Kipruto outdipped Mutiso. In 2023, Mutiso set his PB at Valencia in 2:03:11, and with the listing of elites attending, he’ll seemingly should decrease it once more to contend for victory.
U.S. nationwide marathon file holder (2:18:29) Emily Sisson can also be listed to seem; her solely marathon look this season got here at Boston, a a lot more durable course than Valencia, when she ran 2:22:00 to complete ninth.
The favorite?
Kejelcha and Tesfay will enter because the favourites, however each fields function sufficient depth to make the end result removed from sure. With a number of athletes able to operating close to a course file, the Valencia Marathon is poised for one more quick version.
“Each the boys’s and ladies’s winners from 2025 are returning, though with the confirmations of Yomif and Fotyen, defending the title might be very troublesome,” Marc Roig, the worldwide elite athletes co-ordinator, mentioned in a press launch. “As soon as once more, victory in Valencia is unpredictable, simply the way in which we prefer it.”
