It’s no secret that you simply wish to be as mild and cozy as potential on your marathon, which is why most male marathoners go for the singlet and break up shorts (or half tights) combo on race day. Nonetheless, Ethiopia’s Dawit Wolde took a distinct strategy at Sunday’s 2025 Xiamen Marathon in Xiamen Metropolis, China, profitable in a brand new course file of two:06:06 whereas carrying a one-piece speedsuit. Operating pundits are saying it’s probably the quickest marathon ever recorded in a velocity swimsuit.
I believe Dawit Wolde set the world file for operating the marathon in a velocity swimsuit yesterday pic.twitter.com/lsuRh5CP3l
— Emily Evans (@RunEmilyERun) January 5, 2025
Speedsuits are uncommon for highway racing as they’re sometimes designed for sooner monitor races just like the 100m or the lengthy leap. The aim of a speedsuit is to scale back air resistance, permitting athletes to maneuver extra effectively by way of the air with out their clothes holding them again. This could result in barely sooner instances by minimizing drag. Nonetheless, in a marathon, a speedsuit may probably trigger extra hurt than good, particularly if the runner experiences any bowel malfunctions or wants a fast lavatory cease.
For Wolde, the speedsuit didn’t appear to be a difficulty, as he flew to a brand new Xiamen course file, profitable the race by 12 seconds over Lesotho’s Tebello Ramakongoana, who ran a nationwide file of two:06:18. Ramakongoana trains in Flagstaff, Ariz., beneath American marathon coach James McKirdy, and he additionally completed seventh within the males’s marathon on the 2024 Paris Olympic Video games.
Final 12 months’s champion, Asefa Boki Kebebe, rounded out the rostrum for third in 2:06:32.
It was an Ethiopian sweep as the ladies’s race noticed Ruti Aga rise to the highest as soon as once more in China. The 2019 Tokyo Marathon champion gained the race in a course file of two:18:46, simply half a minute shy of her private greatest set on the Dongying Marathon in 2023. The 30-year-old now owns the 2 quickest ladies’s marathon performances ever achieved in China.
For full outcomes from the 2025 Xiamen Marathon, examine right here.