THE MEN‘S RACETop Ten

THE MEN‘S RACETop Ten 2025Runner Country Time1. Gemechu Dida ETH 58:432. Richard Etir KEN 59:303. Amanal Petros GER 59:314. Richard Ringer GER 60:515. Curtin Fearghal IRL 61:126. Carlos Diaz CHI 61:207. Akira Aizawa JPN 61:218. Gideon Kiprotich KEN 61:259. Joshua Kithuku KEN 61:4110. Robert Kiprop KEN 61:49European marathon champion Richard Ringer delivered a stellar run over thehalf distance, finishing fourth in a personal best of 60:51.Richard Etir. By the 10K mark,which he hit in 27:43, the Ethiopianalready held a 19-secondlead over Etir.In his chase for the courserecord, Dida widened the gapeven further. But in the end,he missed the mark of Kenya’sEric Kiptanui – 58:42 from2018 – by a frustrating singlesecond. Still, considering thetough conditions, it was a brilliantsolo run from GemechuDida. His victory marked theend of an extraordinary streak:it had been exactly tenyears since a non-Kenyan lastwon the GENERALI BERLINHALF MARATHON – Ethiopia’sBirhanu Legese in 2015.– 88 –

Germany’s Amanal Petros(Hannover 96) held his ownsuperbly against the strongAfrican field. From the start,he was on pace for a subone-hourfinish. After threekilometres, he was alreadyabout 40 metres ahead of fellowGerman runners RichardRinger (LC Rehlingen) andJohannes Motschmann (MarathonTeam Berlin).Even the Europeanrecord looked vulnerableIt became clear that Petroswas in such phenomenal formthat no national competitorcould match him. The onlyquestion was how far underone hour he could go. His 10Ksplit of 28:09 suggested a finisharound 59:25 – bringingthe European record of 59:13,set seven years ago by Switzerland’sJulien Wanders, withinsight. But the wind provedtoo strong to chase it down.In the second half of the race,Petros caught up to Kenya’sRichard Etir and the pair ranside by side. “Having him infront of me really helped,”said Petros, who has previouslycompeted for the MarathonTeam Berlin. In the end,Etir narrowly held him off tofinish second with 59:30.First German podiumfinish since 1993Still, Amanal Petros smashedhis own German record by38 seconds – improving from60:09 to 59:31. He is now thefourth-fastest European of alltime and set a European season’sbest. He also became thefirst German man to reach thepodium at the GENERALI BER-LIN HALF MARATHON since1993, when Carsten Eich actuallywon the race in a then-Europeanrecord of 60:34.– 89 –