The first Sunday in May is the home of The Prague International Marathon. With an event record rewritten last year to 2:05:09, the standard of this event has been set very high, however this year, the elite field promises to bring excellent competition from the start, with four runners who have already shown they can run fast.
It looks like the race will be a grand showdown of Ethiopian long-distance runners. The fastest in the field is Herpasa Negasa Kitesa, with a personal best of 2:03:40 from 2019, and an excellent time from Seoul 2022 of 2:04:49. Having had some time out since then with injury, Prague will be the place for his big comeback.
Lemi Berhanu Hayle will prove to be a strong contender for the win with his recent performance of 2:07:32 from Mumbai and a personal best from Dubai of 2:04:33. Abebe Negewo Degefa with a time of 2:04:51 and Abayneh Degu Tsehay with 2:04:53 will also aim for a place on the podium, with Kenyans Kipkemboi Kiprono (2:06:45) and Joshua Kogo (2:08:39) also be battling it out for a top placing. If the weather is good, The Prague Marathon has the chance to see its first sub 2:05 performance.
The women’s field is also dominated by the Africans. Dorcas Jepchirchir Tuitoek from Kenya has raced in Prague before. She tested the local course in 2018 during the 10km Birell Grand Prix. She won the Hamburg Marathon in 2:20:09 and ran even better in Amsterdam with a 2:20:02—both last year. In Prague 2024, she wants to break the 2:20 mark.
She is joined by Ethiopian runner Buzunesh Getachew Gudeta, who has herself already run under 2:20, winning in Frankfurt last year with a time of 2:19:27. At the last Tokyo Marathon, she overestimated her strength and having run the race at a pace of 2:14 for a long time, she dropped out exhausted at 35 km. Their rivalry could bring a new record in the women’s category, and break the 2:20 barrier, achieved only by one runner in Prague, Lonah S. Salpeter from Israel, in 2019, when she set the current race record at 2:19:46.
