Zhou Chunxiu becomes seventh woman to run a sub-2:20 Marathon

Zhou Chunxiu of China who celebrated her 27th birthday on 8 March, carried the party into the weekend by winning the women’s race of the Seoul International Marathon in a time of 2:19:51, making her the seventh woman in history to have broken the sub 2:20 barrier.

Zhou Chunxiu who finished 5th in the World Championship Marathon in Helsinki last summer (2:24:12), is currently the IAAF World Ranked number four for road running, and her time is the eleventh quickest on the all-time list, and the fastest by a woman in 2006.

The National Games silver medallist over 10,000m (31:08.03 PB) in Nanjing on 17 October last year, having run her previous PB of 2:21:11 in the Beijing Marathon just a day before (16 Oct), Zhou Chunxiu is now a three time consecutive winner of the Seoul International Marathon.

This year’s men’s race also saw the crowning of a three-time winner, Gert Thys of South Africa, who won the men’s race in 2:10:40. The 34-year-old had also previously taken victories in Seoul in 2003 and 2004, had come second last year.

Chris Turner and Mirko Jalava for the IAAF

Seoul International Marathon, Seoul Korea
12 March 2006

Men

1 Gert Thys RSA  2:10:40
2 Jason Mbote KEN 2:11:40
3 Araya Haregot KEN 2:11:56
4 Ji Young-Joon  KOR 2:12:08
5 Jimmy Muindi KEN 2:12:20
6 Wilson Kigen KEN 2:12:28
7 Mbarak Hussein USA 2:12:53
8 William Kipsang KEN 2:13:30

Women

1 Zhou Chunxiu  CHN 2:19:51
2 Lim Kyung-Hee  KOR 2:34:08
3 Choi Kyung-Hee  KOR 2:36:10
4 Chae Eun-Hee  KOR 2:40:47
5 Chieko Yamasaki JPN 2:41:40
6 Emily Kimuria KEN 2:42:05
7 Satoko Uetani JPN 2:44:24
8 Suh Ok-Yeon  KOR 2:46:41