Kebebe defends title, course record-holder Dibaba faces Aga in Xiamen

Asefa Boki Kebebe will defend his title in the men’s race, while past winners Mare Dibaba and Meseret Abebayehu Alemu will clash with Ruti Aga in the women’s race at the C&D Xiamen Marathon, a World Athletics Platinum Label road race, on Sunday (5).

Ethiopia’s Aga is the fastest in the women’s field and the PB of 2:18:09 she set in Dongying in 2023 stands as the Chinese all-comers' record. The 30-year-old also won the Tokyo Marathon in 2:20:40 in 2019 and has achieved four other major marathon podium places, including a 2:18:34 runner-up finish in the 2018 Berlin Marathon.

Last year she won the Daegu Marathon in April and was second in the Dubai Marathon in January.

Her compatriot Dibaba set the Xiamen Marathon course record of 2:19:52 in 2015 and went on to win that year’s world marathon title in Beijing. She claimed Olympic bronze in Rio the following year and won the Xiamen Marathon for the first time in 2014.

That 2:19:52 run in Xiamen equalled the PB Dibaba had set in Dubai three years prior and most recently she ran 2:22:36 to finish second in the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon in October.

Abebayehu Alemu achieved her Xiamen Marathon win in 2023, when she clocked 2:24:41. She set her PB of 2:19:50 when finishing second in Amsterdam in 2023 and her most recent race was a win in Dongying in October in 2:22:00.

That trio will be joined in Xiamen by their compatriot Buzunesh Getachew Gudeta, the fourth sub-2:20 runner in the women’s field. Her best of 2:19:27 was set when winning the Frankfurt Marathon in 2023 and she was a distant runner-up to Abebayehu Alemu in Dongying in October.

The field also features Ethiopia’s Gutemi Shone Imana and Fikrte Wereta Admasu, Kenya’s Gladys Chesir and China’s Liu Min.

Ethiopia’s Kebebe ran 2:06:46 to win last year’s men’s race, securing the biggest victory of his career so far. He improved to 2:05:40 in Amsterdam in October, finishing runner-up to his compatriot Tsegaye Getachew.

This time his competition includes Ethiopia’s Dawit Wolde, who is the fastest in the field thanks to the PB of 2:03:48 he set to finish third in Valencia in 2023. He will be looking to return to that sort of form in 2025, having achieved a best of 2:10:53 last year when finishing 15th in the Chicago Marathon.

Kebebe and Wolde will be joined on the start line by two other men with sub-2:06 PBs: their compatriot Chalu Deso Gelmisa and Morocco’s Othmane El Goumri. Gelmisa is the 2023 Tokyo Marathon champion who set his PB of 2:04:53 when finishing sixth in Valencia in 2020, while El Goumri set a national record of 2:05:12 when finishing second in Barcelona in 2023 and was third in Xiamen in 2:07:18 last year.

Also in action is El Goumri’s compatriot Hicham Laqouahi, as well as Ethiopia’s Melaku Belachew and China’s Yang Shaohui, who raced the Olympic marathon in Paris last year and claimed marathon bronze at the Asian Games in 2023.

Elite fields

Women
Ruti Aga (ETH) 2:18:09
Buzunesh Getachew Gudeta (ETH) 2:19:27
Meseret Abebayehu Alemu (ETH) 2:19:50
Mare Dibaba (ETH) 2:19:52
Gutemi Shone Imana (ETH) 2:20:11
Gladys Chesir (KEN) 2:20:30
Fikrte Wereta Admasu (ETH) 2:21:32
Tigist Gashaw (BRN) 2:24:39
Emebet Niguse Mamo (ETH) 2:25:25
Mercy Jerop Kwambai (KEN) 2:25:57
Khishigsaikhan Galbadrakh (MGL) 2:26:32
Liu Min (CHN) 2:28:36

Men
Dawit Wolde (ETH) 2:03:48
Chalu Deso Gelmisa (ETH) 2:04:53
Othmane El Goumri (MAR) 2:05:12
Asefa Boki Kebebe (ETH) 2:05:40
Melaku Belachew (ETH) 2:06:30
Hicham Laqouahi (MAR) 2:06:32
Yang Shaohui (CHN) 2:07:09
Berhane Tsegay Tekle (ERI) 2:07:21
Tebello Ramakongoana (LES) 2:07:58
Dong Guojian (CHN) 2:08:12
Ser-Od Bat-Ochir (MGL) 2:08:50
Vincent Kimaiyo (KEN) debut