Persevering with an athletics profession spanning greater than twenty years, 48-year-old Kenyan marathoner Mark Kiptoo remains to be working among the finest occasions of his profession. On Sunday on the 2025 Zürich Marathon in Switzerland, Kiptoo took his third consecutive victory, clocking 2:09:16—a stunning time for a runner usually thought of previous his prime.
This was Kiptoo’s third straight win on the Zürich Marathon, having additionally gained the race in 2023 and 2024. This was additionally his second quickest time on the course, solely behind his M45+ masters marathon world document of two:09:12. Kiptoo’s time was solely 4 seconds off his personal world document for his 45-49 age group. Though it’s not an age-group document, it’s the quickest ever marathon by a 48-year-old.
Kiptoo was 46 when he broke American/Kenyan Bernard Lagat’s earlier M45+ age-group document of two:14:23 by 5 minutes on the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials in Atlanta.
Not like many Kenyan athletes, who take up the game of their youth or as a younger grownup. Kiptoo didn’t begin working till he was properly into his mid-20s whereas serving within the Kenyan Armed Forces. It wasn’t till Kiptoo was 31 that he competed for Kenya internationally for the primary time in 2007.
Wow! 48-year-old Mark Kiptoo 🇰🇪 wins Zurich Marathon title for the third consecutive time 👇🏾
Kiptoo proves that age is only a quantity!
Prime 3 male finishers 👇🏾
1️⃣Mark Kosgei Kiptoo 🇰🇪 2:09:16
2️⃣Joel Kositany 🇰🇪 2:11:25
3️⃣Habtom Amaniel 2:11:27 (debut) pic.twitter.com/82EzBKxYWj— Kenya One Sports activities 🇰🇪 (@TonnyKe11) April 13, 2025
Kiptoo, nicknamed “The Ageless Marvel,” has a marathon finest of two:06:00 from the Eindhoven Marathon in 2015, however has recorded sub-2:10 occasions in three of the final 4 years. He gained Sunday’s occasion in Zürich by a big two-minute margin over his Kenyan compatriot Joel Kipsang Kositany (2:11:25) and the Eritrean marathoner Amaniel Habtom (2:11:27), in what was a dash end for second place.
Kiptoo will flip 50 on June 21, 2026. If he can lengthen his Zürich profitable streak till then, he has an opportunity to make historical past as the primary 50-year-old to run a 2:10 marathon.
Within the ladies’s race, Kenya’s Monicah Jeptoo took the win in a tactical race with a time of two:35:35. For full outcomes from Zürich, test right here.