Dejene Debela prevails in windy Istanbul

The former Kenyan who competes for Bahrain remains unbeaten at the classic distance, making it four wins out of four. For much of the race the 2016 Olympic Steeplechase champion, who switched to the marathon in 2023, was on course for a sub 2:20 time. However with very strong winds hitting Istanbul during the second half of the race the 27 year-old had to settle for a winning time of 2:24:45. Ethiopia’s Dejene Debela raced to his biggest career win in Istanbul’s men’s race. The 29 year-old crossed the line in 2:11:40.

The Türkiye Is Bankasi Istanbul Marathon, which is a World Athletics Gold Label Road Race, registered 7,500 marathon runners. Adding events at shorter distances the total number of athletes was 42,500.

“The race started fast and we were expecting strong performances from our athletes. However, the wind picked up significantly in the second half, which impacted the results. Even so, it was once again a great race. There is tremendous potential for the future,“ said Race Director Renay Onur. “The Türkiye Is Bankasi Istanbul Marathon is the most important annual international event in Turkish athletics and we are eager to support it. The intercontinental route makes it unique and we hope to be able to attract 20,000 marathon runners in the future,“ said Ahmet Karadag, the newly elected President of Turkey’s Athletics Federation.

For long periods it looked as if the course record of 2:09:44 would be smashed. Running behind two pacemakers Morocco’s 2:06:49 marathoner Mohcin Outalha reached the half marathon point in 63:24. At that stage he was seven seconds ahead of a chasing group. However once the second pacer dropped out at 25k and the course made a U-turn with the consequence of the runners now facing an increasing headwind Mohcin Outalha slowed and was soon overtaken by the group behind him. While the Moroccan later dropped out the wind gusts reached gale force and caused the kilometre splits to drop extremely. 3:47 was the split time for the 30th kilometre, which even for a women’s elite race would have been very slow. Any hopes for a course record were simply blown away.

With five kilometres to go four athletes were still in contention: Kenyans Kenneth Kipkemoi, Matthew Samperu and Benard Kipkorir were running together with Dejene Debela. At the 40k mark Semperu and Debela took the lead. The final mile is mainly uphill and it was at the beginning of that section when the Ethiopian dropped Semperu. “When we passed the 30k mark I already knew that I could win,“ said Dejene Debela. “The wind made it very tough, it became worse from 35k onwards. But I am very happy since this is my biggest career win.“ The Ethiopian was runner-up in Chicago in 2019, when he clocked his PB of 2:05:46. “I had some injuries in recent years, but now I believe that I can improve my personal best,“ said Dejene Debela, who clocked 2:11:40 in Istanbul. Kenyans Mathew Samperu and Kenneth Kipkemoi took second and third with 2:11:55 and 2:12:07 respectively.

Ruth Jebet took the initiative early in the race. At the 5k point she was already a couple of seconds ahead. The former Kenyan then opened a gap of 17 seconds at 10k which she past in a very quick 32:52. At that point she ran a pace that was even threatening the course record: Back in 2018 Kenya’s Ruth Chepngetich, who recently smashed the world record with the first sub 2:10 women’s time, ran 2:18:35 in Istanbul.

At half way Ruth Jebet’s split time was 69:23 while Kenyan chasers Sharon Chebet and Betty Kibet were also running fast with 71:06. However things changed dramatically once the turning point was reached and the athletes had to run against the wind. The unlikely course record was soon out of reach and with around 10k left a sub 2:20 time became unrealistic as well. In the end Ruth Jebet also had to give up her minimum goal of improving her personal best of 2:23:08. But with regard to the wind her 2:24:45 performance was top-class. And in contrast to most of the athletes behind her she still managed to run relatively smoothly. Ruth Jebet was almost nine minutes ahead of Urge Diro who ran 2:33:37 for second. Fellow-Ethiopian Ayantu Abdi took third with 2:33:49.

“From 33 kilometres onwards it was very tough to run against the wind. I though I give it a try and go for the course record, but it was impossible to run sub 2:20 in these conditions,“ said Ruth Jebet. “I will now go for a spring marathon and hope to qualify for next year’s World Championships.“