On the first Sunday in May, three elite long-distance runners — each with a personal best under 2 hours and 5 minutes — will take to the streets of the Czech capital. These remarkable times belong mainly to Ethiopian athletes, who are among the top favorites for the ORLEN Prague Marathon 2025.
“The goal is clear: if the weather allows, we’ll be going for course records, and I strongly believe at least one of them will fall,” said Carlo Capalbo, the president of the RunCzech organizing committee. “That’s exactly how we approached building the start list.”
This year marks a significant milestone for the Prague Marathon, as the famous race celebrates its 30th anniversary. Once again, it has received the prestigious “Elite Label” status from World Athletics, and the event is expecting a record number of participants. Organizers are hopeful that new course records could be set in both the men’s and women’s races.
“In the men’s field, we will not only have athletes who have already broken the 2:05 barrier, but also several with personal bests around 2:06. We believe they’ll form a strong lead group capable of attacking a 2:05 finish,” Capalbo added. The current men’s course record is 2:05:09, set by Kenyan Alexander Mutiso in 2023. The women’s course record, 2:19:46, has stood since 2019 and belongs to Israel’s Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, a World Championships bronze medalist.
The men’s start list is dominated by Ethiopian talent. Among them is the defending champion, Lemi Berhanu Hayle, who ran his first competitive marathon in 2014. Two years later, he clocked his personal best of 2:04:33 in Dubai. Even stronger recent “label times”—performances within the past three seasons—belong to three of his compatriots. Andualem Belay Shiferaw (33) ran 2:04:44 in Berlin in 2022, finishing sixth, just two minutes behind the legendary Eliud Kipchoge. Gadisa Birhanu Shumie, winner of the 2023 Seville Marathon, boasts a PB of 2:04:59. The fourth Ethiopian contender, Lemi Dumecha Beyi, has the most recent personal best among them. The strongest European name on paper is Spain’s Tariku Novales. A former junior European silver medalist over 5000 meters on the track, he has transitioned smoothly to road racing and finished the 2022 season ranked eighth on the European marathon list with a time of 2:05:48.
The women’s elite field features two athletes with personal bests right around the 2:20 mark — both with a real chance of challenging the course record of 2:19:46.
“Each of them is aiming to break 2:20, so we will see,” said Capalbo. “Securing pacemakers for such fast times was a major challenge, but I believe the ones we’ve chosen are well prepared to support the target times of sub-2:05 for men and sub-2:20 for women.”
Unlike the men’s field, where Ethiopia dominates, the top female contenders come from Kenya. Their personal bests are separated by only 3 seconds. Gladys Chesir Kiptagelai finished fourth at the Amsterdam Marathon in October with 2:20:30. A former Youth Olympic Games gold medalist, she also owns a silver medal from the African Games (10,000 m) and placed sixth at the World Half Marathon Championships. Evaline Chirchir, 27, set her PB of 2:20:33 in Valencia this past December, also placing fourth. Prague will be her first marathon of the year as she enters her third season focusing on the full marathon distance.
The starting gun for the ORLEN Prague Marathon main event will fire at 9:00 AM on Sunday, May 4. As always, the heart of the event will be Old Town Square.
Start of the race in 2024
Old Town Square minutes before the start
