Copenhagen course records narrowly missed

Copenhagen Marathon
Sun 11 May 2025

The biggest ever marathon race in Denmark was extremely close to also becoming the fastest one.

In the men’s race, Berhane Tesfaye of Eritrea missed the race record by a mere two seconds, while Sharon Kiptugen of Kenya was five seconds short of bettering the women’s record.

Berhane Tesfaye (ERI) and Sharon Kiptugen (KEN) were crowned winners of the Copenhagen Marathon on Sunday. Clocking 2:08.25 and 2:23.19 they missed the race records by only two and five seconds respectively.

With 11 degrees and almost no wind, the conditions in the Danish capital were optimal.

Reuben Rono, the Kenyan pacer, led a group of 11 men through the first half in 1:03.43, indicating a new race record. When Rono dropped out, Boaz Kipkemei (KEN) took the lead and was able to establish a small gap. At 30 km, however, he was overtaken by debutant Vincent Mutai (KEN) and the eventual winner Tesfaye.
The two then ran side-by-side until 40 km. On the last stretch, the 38-year-old Tesfaye proved to be the strongest and won by a solid margin of 44 seconds.

“I was indeed aware of the record, but I suffered from pain in my legs and just couldn’t finish faster. The conditions were really good,” Tesfaye told the press after his victory, which was his second consecutive one having also won the Mumbai Marathon in January.

In the women’s race, a group of five Africans passed the half marathon mark in 1:11:27. Soon after, Kenyan debutant Sharon Kitugen eased away steadily increasing her lead.

Crossing the finish line in 2:23:19 she missed the race record by five seconds but could grab a superb first spot by over three minutes down to runner-up, the 2012 Olympic silver medalist at 3000M steeplechase, Sofia Assefa of Ethiopia.
“I didn’t know I was so close to the record, but I’m just happy for the win,” Kitugen said.

With 21,000 registered for the race, the 45th edition of the Copenhagen Marathon was by far the largest ever on Danish soil. Next year, the Copenhagen Marathon will take place on May 10th, and registration for the race will open May 27th 2025.

The next big race in Copenhagen will be the Copenhagen Half Marathon on September 14th, building up to the World Athletics Road Running Championships Copenhagen 26. Here the world champions on Half Marathon, 5km and One Mile will be crowned with up to 65,000 runners in their footsteps.