Eliud Kipchoge wins Melbourne Marathon in 2:09:10, his first marathon win since Berlin 2023, at 41

Eliud Kipchoge won the Melbourne Marathon on Sunday 11 October 2026 in 2 hours 9 minutes 10 seconds, two seconds inside the race record, for his first marathon victory since Berlin in 2023, Al Jazeera reported. The Kenyan, now 41, finished inside the Melbourne Cricket Ground, the stadium Pakistan's cricketers know well, and slowed in the last stretch to wave to the crowd.

Results

Men

1. Eliud Kipchoge (Kenya), 2:09:10
2. Thomas Do Canto (Australia), 2:10:35
3. Reece Edwards (Australia), 2:14:33

Kipchoge won by about 1 minute 25 seconds.

Women

1. Camille French (New Zealand), 2:28:25
2. Sinead Diver (Australia), 2:28:49
3. Nichola Sheridan (Ireland), 2:29:13

Why it matters

Kipchoge is the two-time Olympic marathon champion and the first man to run a marathon distance in under two hours, in a specially organised run in Vienna in 2019. His last few years at the top level were hard, including failing to finish the Paris 2024 Olympic marathon, so a win of any kind at 41 drew attention. Melbourne is not one of the six World Marathon Majors and 2:09 is well off his best, but it ends a three-year wait.

"I believe that my body is still peaking," he said afterwards, adding that he enjoyed hearing people "cheering, and shouting my name", and that he was happy to keep racing against the Gen Z runners.

His world tour

Melbourne was the third stop of Kipchoge's "World Tour", after South Africa and Brazil. He announced in 2025 that he wants to run a marathon on all seven continents, Antarctica included, within two years, raising money for causes he supports along the way.

For runners in Pakistan

A 2:09:10 marathon is an average of about 3 minutes 4 seconds per kilometre for 42.195 km. Pakistan's own big city races, such as the Lahore and Islamabad marathons, usually take place in the cooler months from December to March. For more results from a busy sporting weekend, see our Liverpool vs Man City preview and the Pakistan vs Sri Lanka live page.