Men’s 2024 Valencia Marathon Preview
If the World Marathon Majors are siblings, the Valencia Marathon is their cool cousin that comes over around the holidays. The last big international marathon of the year will go ahead as scheduled on December 1st – despite the severe flooding that recently devastated the area – and the men’s field is as strong as ever.
The Ciudad del Running, as it has come to be known, is fast: it played host to Yomif Kejelcha’s half marathon world record just five weeks ago. If anyone can take down the respective mark over double the distance this Sunday, they will be rewarded with a one-million-euro bonus. It’s unlikely, but it has nevertheless lured some top talent.
Sisay Lemma
Sisay Lemma may be the favourite heading to Valencia, but there are enough question marks around his form that nobody will be surprised if he loses. The Ethiopian won this race in a course record of 2:01:48 last year to become the fourth fastest man in history, led the Boston Marathon gun to tape in April, and was named to his national squad for the Olympics. Unfortunately, he had to give up his place on account of injury, but he was the clear favourite before withdrawing. Perhaps furthering that point, his replacement came off the bench to win the gold medal and break the Olympic record. Assuming Lemma has recovered from whatever ailed him earlier this year, there’s every chance he blows apart the field just as he did 12 months ago.
But the question must be asked: at what point does experience weigh heavier than its lessons? The 33-year-old will take to his 29th marathon start line this weekend; like a tree that grows taller with each season until the years hollow it from within, have the miles finally caught up with Lemma? For as much success as he’s enjoyed, it’s not been without setbacks.
Lemma may have won Boston earlier this year, but it was at the fourth time of asking: he failed to complete the race in 2017, before finishing 30th in 2019 and dropping out again in 2022. He’s also recently dropped out of the Tokyo Olympic and Tokyo (non-Olympic) Marathons, so while there are plenty of reasons to back him, there are nearly an equal number of reasons to be sceptical. The Ethiopian has a habit of going out hard and seeing if anyone (himself included) can hang on, so while you can’t count on him winning, you can count on him making it an honest and entertaining race.
Sisay Lemma wins the 2024 Boston Marathon
Kenenisa Bekele
The greatest of all time won’t look it this weekend. If you have no appreciation for Kenenisa Bekele and don’t fancy peering into a time capsule, then you’ve missed the boat (in the same way that the younger generations of boxing fans might not idolise Mike Tyson after his “fight” against “boxer” Jake Paul). That’s totally fine: at 42 years of age, Bekele is well past the form that led him to three Olympic titles, four world records, and 18 global championships. Nevertheless, few will finish ahead of him in Valencia.
At last year’s race, Bekele sensed the opening pace was too hot and let a group of 11 get away from him just after 10km. Come the finish line, the Ethiopian had passed the entire elite field save the podium to finish fourth in a new master’s world record of 2:04:19. He lowered that mark by a few seconds in April when he finished second at the London Marathon against the most competitive World Marathon Major field of the year.
Hamstring cramps derailed his Olympic campaign (he finished 39th), but the fact that he’s lining up in Spain means he has resolved that issue. One of the main reasons for Bekele’s longevity is his willingness to step away from competition when his body demands it, so if he says he’s ready to run on Sunday, he means it. Expect a well-measured race from the Ethiopian that sees him finish uncharacteristically high for a man his age.
Kenenisa Bekele in second place in the closing stages of the 2024 London Marathon
Birhanu Legese
A sprinter as a junior, Birhanu Legese has slowly worked his way up through the distances over his career, consistently finding more success the further he goes. Making his marathon debut in 2018, the Ethiopian once stood at third on the all-time rankings behind only Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele. He’s since fallen to seventh, but his 2:02:48 personal best from 2019 makes him a title contender on any marathon start line.
Legese is only 30 years old, so he has plenty of time to recapture the form he enjoyed only a few years ago. He was the back-to-back Tokyo Marathon champion in 2019 and 2020 and stood on this podium four years ago, but he’s not broken 2:04 since then and has registered the only two DNFs of his career in the last two years. His most recent races – third-place finishes in an international half marathon and marathon – prove his training has gone well, but the Valencia Marathon will surely be how his 2024 season is remembered.
Birhanu Legese finishes second at the 2019 Berlin Marathon to run the then third fastest marathon in history
Sebastian Sawe & Daniel Mateiko
Valencia has seen the very best and worst of debutants. In 2022, future marathon world record holder Kelvin Kiptum announced himself to the world when he became the third man in history to break 2:02 in the fastest marathon debut of all time. In 2023, 5000m and 10,000m world record holder Joshua Cheptegei ran an eight-minute positive split to finish 37th. In 2024, half marathon specialists Sebastian Sawe and Daniel Mateiko will be praying for a Kiptum-esque performance when they toe the start line for their marathon debuts.
Sawe will arrive in Valencia in the shape of his life. The Kenyan won the Prague Half Marathon in a new personal best of 58:24 earlier this year before winning the Copenhagen Half Marathon in September in 58:05 to lower that mark and sneak into the top ten on the all-time list. He’s the 2023 world half marathon champion and has twice finished in the top ten at the World Cross Country Championships: a strong debut this weekend could put him on the path to becoming Kenya’s next big marathon star.
Sebastian Sawe wins the 2023 World Half Marathon Championship
But that’s not what Eliud Kipchoge thinks. The marathon GOAT has touted his training partner, Mateiko, as the future of the event.
“[He has] a huge, huge future ahead of him. I’m putting all my money on Mateiko as the future,” said Kipchoge in an interview with Runner’s World.
It’s a bold bet, as Mateiko has failed to finish both of the marathons he’s started. But hey, third time’s the charm, right?
Like Sawe, Mateiko is in the form of his life. He was runner-up behind Yomif Kejelcha’s world record at the Valencia Half Marathon last month and has broken 59 minutes in his last five half marathons. He’s had a busy year – two half marathons, 35km of the London Marathon, the Kenyan Olympic trials, and the Olympic 10,000m final – but if he’s recovered well, and Kipchoge is willing to back him, I wouldn’t want to be the one to count him out.
Find out how you can watch the 2024 Valencia Marathon here.