Gerda Steyn continued her domination of road running in South Africa, with another commanding victory in record time at the Comrades Marathon on Sunday.
Steyn led from start to finish and systematically increased her pace throughout the race, until she crossed the line in an unofficial time of five hours 49 minutes and 46 seconds (5:49:46) to break her own ‘up run’ record.
It was Steyn’s third victory in the Comrades Marathon, to go with her triumphs in 2019 and 2023.
In second place was international runner Alexandra Morozova in 6:05:12 and completing the podium was American Courtney Olsen 6:08:09.
At the halfway mark of the race, Steyn was 117th overall but after 4:45 she had powered through to 46th as her record run gathered steam. At this point, Steyn was on track to better her own ‘up run’ record by seven minutes.
𝟓:𝟒𝟗:𝟒𝟔 ⏱🔥
— SuperSport 🏆 (@SuperSportTV) June 9, 2024
Gerda Steyn smashes the record to win the 2024 Comrades Marathon 🌟💥
📺 Stream #Comrades2024 live: https://t.co/rM90YyQxaw pic.twitter.com/zM5G5TYd0q
Incredible year
It’s been a phenomenal year for Steyn as she claimed victories in record times at the Two Oceans Marathon Om die Dam and the Vaal Marathon.
Earlier, in the men’s race, Piet Wiersma of the Netherlands exorcised his demons of an agonising second place finish at last year’s men’s race, to take victory.
The 26-year-old crossed the finish line in 5:25:00.
Dan Moselakwe was second in 5:25:45, Ethiopia’s Degefa Lafebo was third in 5:27:48.
Wiersma made a decisive move at Polly shorts as he opened up a gap with around 40 minutes of running left in the race.
In the latter stages of the race after the four hour mark, the main contenders were whittled down to a group of four Nedbank runners. Wiersma, Lafebo, Tete Dijana and Moselakwe.
Dijana of course, took top honours last year - beating Wiersma by three seconds - to bag his second win in a row.
At the 4:30 mark though, defending ‘up’ run champion Edward Mothibi made his move on the lead group. A few minutes later, Joseph Manyedi was the one to join the lead pack as the group grew in numbers to five.
At the halfway mark, Russian Aleksei Beresnev held the lead as he made his way through Drummond in 2:40:51. That put him more than four minutes ahead of the next runner.
Jobo Khatoane of Lesotho was the early leader in the men’s race, before he started walking as he approached Drummond.