On a windy marathon morning in Toronto, the ladies’s race got here all the way down to the twine, as 4 athletes, they all from Ethiopia, completed inside seven seconds of one another. Ethiopia’s Buze Diriba Kejela was once fastest to the road, taking the win in 2:23:11–a five-minute private perfect.
Diriba was once carefully adopted by means of 2023 Ottawa Marathon champion Waganesh Mekasha in 2nd position (2:23:12) and Afera Godfay in 0.33 (2:23:15). This was once the nearest end between a best 3 within the race’s historical past.
🏆 Celebrating Ladies’s Marathon Excellence! 🏆
A thunderous applause for Buze Diriba Kejela of Ethiopia, who clinched the ladies’s identify on the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon with a outstanding time of two:23:11! #TOwaterfront42k #WomensRaceChampion 🌟🏃♀️🇪🇹 percent.twitter.com/6bv8vK2yXs
— TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon (@TOwaterfront42k) October 15, 2023
Fozya Jemal Amid was once proper on their heels, completing fourth in 2:23:18 (a non-public perfect); the U.S.’s Emily Durgin completed 5th in 2:26:46 in her debut marathon, nabbing herself a 2024 Olympic marathon qualifying time within the closest of margins. Durgin was once the quickest North American finisher at the path, completing 3 mins forward of her compatriot Molly Grabill.
The ladies have been inside path document tempo for many of the race, however the cold wind on Toronto’s lakeshore took its toll, and the ladies’s path document of two:22:16, set in 2019 by means of Kenya’s Magdalyne Masai, remained intact.
Godfay, who held the quickest seed heading into the race, didn’t push the tempo, by no means taking a flip on the entrance to dam the wind. “I got here right here to win, and was once disenchanted to not,” stated Godfay on her third-place end. “Extra velocity received on the finish.”
On the post-race press convention, Diriba credited her monitor velocity for her skill to split from the 4 girls within the ultimate kilometre. (She has a non-public perfect of 14:50 for five,000m.) She got here into Sunday’s marathon with a PB of two:28:06 from the 2019 Houston Marathon.
Pomerleau wins Canadian identify
Caroline Pomerleau of Quebec was once the marvel winner of the Canadian Marathon Championships, putting tenth general in her marathon debut, in 2:34:44.
Pomerleau’s purpose heading into her first marathon was once to run underneath 2:40. At the ultimate nook, she overtook Anne-Marie Comeau, who have been main the Canadian girls for many of the 2nd part of the race, beating her by means of seven seconds; Comeau completed as 2nd Canadian, in 2:34:51. Tokyo Olympian Dayna Pidhoresky rounded out the Canadian girls’s podium for 0.33, completing in 2:35:50.
Best 10 girls
- Buze Diriba Kejela ETH 2:23:11
- Waganesh Mekasha ETH 2:23:12
- Afera Godfay ETH 2:23:15
- Fozya Jemal Amid ETH 2:23:18
- Emily Durgin USA 2:26:46
- Molly Grabill USA 2:29:45
- Meseret Gebre ETH 2:29:54
- Molly Bookmyer USA 2:30:37
- Gada Bontu Bekele ETH 2:31:33
- Caroline Pomerleau CAN 2:34:44 (debut, Canadian Marathon Champion)
You’ll view the overall effects from the 2023 TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon right here.