Achievement by Yeman Crippa: the Italian triumphs at the Paris Marathon, one of the largest in the world, with almost 60 thousand participants at the start, signing the personal best of 2h05’18”. Crippa is the first Italian in history to conquer the 42.195 km of the French capital, an event that a European athlete had not won for 24 years (the Frenchman Benoit Zwierzchiewski in 2002). “The My career as a marathon runner begins today – the Fiamme Oro rider from Trentino rejoices – I have finally found the right path. It was incredible, around the 33rd kilometer I understood that it would be my day and when at the 39th I saw that my opponents were struggling, I decided to attack. Today I redeemed myself from 25th place in Paris at the Olympic Games and a whole new page opens, this morning I discovered that I have a feeling for the marathon”. Crippa, embraced by his father Roberto, coach Massimo Pegoretti and manager Gianni Demadonna immediately after the finish line, takes the lead when there are about five kilometers left inside the Bois de Boulogne park, the green lung of Paris, and then launches the decisive attack one and a half kilometers from the end, in a stretch on cobblestones in a slight descent, ahead of the Ethiopian Bayelign Teshager (2h05’23”), the Kenyan Sila Kiptoo (2h05’28”) and the Djiboutian Mohamed Ismail (2h05’38”).
The 29-year-old Italian, always in the leading group, constantly lucid and very ready for supplies (the one at the 39th km is exemplary), signs a passage to the half in 1h03’14” and then scores a negative split in the second half part of 1h02’04”, shaking off the ghosts of many of the previous marathons, when he had run into physical or mental crises after the thirtieth kilometre. For Crippa it is the second Italian performance ever, behind Iliass Aouani’s record of 1 March in Tokyo (2h04’26”) and a personal improvement after two years compared to the 2h06’06” in Seville in February 2024. Among the women, an Ethiopian double: Shure Demise set the race record in 2h18’34”, ahead of her compatriot Misgane Alemayehu (+34″). Third place for Kenyan Magdalyne Masa.