The 2020 Jianfa Xiamen Marathon invited outstanding athletes from around the world based on the 2020 World Athletics Platinum Label event standards, including six platinum label athletes (three male and three female). On the beautiful Egret Island, a spectacular event unfolded with fierce competition.

In the men's category, the suspense remained until nearly 39 kilometers, with the leading group maintaining a competitive stance. Birhan Nebebew Tesfaye from Ethiopia distanced himself from other runners near the 39-kilometer mark and won the championship with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 16 seconds. Reuben Kiprop Kerio from Kenya took second place with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 46 seconds, while Girmay Birhanu Gebru from Ethiopia finished third with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 52 seconds.

Birhan Nebebew Tesfaye, who was last year's third-place finisher (2019 time of 2 hours, 9 minutes, and 36 seconds), 'counterattacked' to win the championship, improving by 1 minute and 20 seconds compared to last year. In an interview, he expressed his happiness at winning a major marathon for the first time. He mentioned that the course adjustments this year, which reduced the number of 180-degree turns, greatly helped him improve his performance.

In the women's category, Medina Deme ARMINO from Ethiopia overtook her competitors in the final sprint to successfully defend her title with a time of 2 hours, 26 minutes, and 12 seconds. Mesera Hussen Dubiso and Afera Godfay Berha, also from Ethiopia, finished second and third with times of 2 hours, 26 minutes, and 28 seconds, and 2 hours, 26 minutes, and 42 seconds, respectively.

It is worth mentioning that all top three male finishers ran under 2 hours and 9 minutes, and all top three female finishers ran under 2 hours and 27 minutes, showing a significant improvement compared to last year.

This year's Xiamen Marathon featured 61 male runners finishing under 2:30:00 and 12 female runners finishing under 2:45:00.

After the starting gun, Yang Dinghong closely followed the leading group and led the domestic runners throughout the race. He ultimately won the Chinese national men's title with a time of 2 hours, 13 minutes, and 50 seconds, setting the best performance by a Chinese runner in nearly a decade. Wu Xiangdong finished second with a personal best time of 2 hours, 17 minutes, and 50 seconds, while Fu Wenguo finished third with a time of 2 hours, 18 minutes, and 57 seconds.

▲Yang Dinghong

In the women's category, first-time participant Li Zhixuan won the championship with a time of 2 hours, 32 minutes, and 44 seconds. He Yinliand Bai Li finished second and third with times of 2 hours, 33 minutes, and 40 seconds, and 2 hours, 39 minutes, and 27 seconds, respectively.

▲ Li Zhixuan

The first-place Chinese runner receives a prize of 50,000 yuan, but there are certain performance requirements. For the women's category, the time must be under 2 hours, 32 minutes, and 30 seconds. Li Zhixuan missed this by 14 seconds, so her prize was halved to 25,000 yuan, leaving a slight regret.

To encourage more female runners to participate in marathons, the 2020 Jianfa Xiamen Marathon launched the 'Women's First Marathon Plan,' allocating 500 spots for women. These spots were drawn from female applicants with a net half-marathon time meeting the Chinese Athletics Association's A-level event standards.

Among the pre-registered participants for this event, there were 16,879 women, accounting for 20.5% of the total; the actual number of female participants was5,547, an increase of 12% from the previous year. The 'Women's First Marathon Plan' has encouraged more female runners to participate in the Xiamen Marathon.

Some content of the article is sourced from the @Xiamen Marathon official WeChat account