Ethiopian runners swept the 43rd Athens Marathon on Sunday, 8 November, with Manazot Siyum Taferi and Yatane Kormoshe Dusha both setting new course records on the historic route from Marathon to Athens.

Taferi won the men's race in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 3 seconds, shaving 31 seconds off the previous course record of 2:10:34, set by Kenya's Edwin Kiprop Kiptoo in 2023. He passed halfway in 1:06:50 and reached 30 kilometres in 1:35:02 before completing a strong second half over the challenging, hilly course.

His compatriot Asefa Tefera Mengisa finished second in 2:10:18, just 15 seconds behind the winner and also inside the old record. The leading pair began to separate from the field after 35 kilometres, although the outcome remained in doubt until the final kilometre. Kenya's Patrick Ketter Kiplagat took third place in 2:11:22.

Dusha won the women's race in 2:30:04, bettering the previous event record of 2:31:06, set by Lithuania's Rasa Drazdauskaite in 2010. She and fellow Ethiopian Tsiyon Abebe Temesgen broke clear after halfway, before Dusha pulled away late to secure the victory in her first marathon. Temesgen finished second in 2:30:29, and Jane Jepkemboi Bareikis of the United States was third in 2:32:59.

The result completed an Ethiopian clean sweep of the top two places in both races, with Mengisa second in the men's event and Temesgen second in the women's. Dusha's victory was especially striking because it came in her first marathon, and her 2:30:04 was more than a minute inside a women's course record that had stood since 2010.

The race finished inside the Panathenaic Stadium, the marble arena built for the first modern Olympic Games in 1896. The marathon follows the 42.195-kilometre route from the town of Marathon to central Athens, retracing the course of the original marathon legend.

Konstantinos Stamoulis was the first Greek man across the line, finishing eighth overall in 2:17:37. Stamatia Noula was the first Greek woman to finish, recording 2:35:13, the fastest time by a Greek woman on the historic course.

The event attracted more than 85,000 registered participants from 124 countries across the marathon and its accompanying races, a record for the weekend. Around 25,000 athletes registered for the main marathon, which started at 08:30 on Sunday in Marathon. The programme also included 5 km and 10 km races, along with shorter distances for children and participants with disabilities.

Spectators gathered along the route and inside the Panathenaic Stadium to welcome the finishers home, closing one of the fastest editions of the race ever run on the demanding Athens course.