On a windy marathon morning in Toronto, the ladies’s race got here right down to the wire, as 4 athletes, all of them from Ethiopia, completed inside seven seconds of one another. Ethiopia’s Buze Diriba Kejela was quickest to the road, taking the win in 2:23:11–a five-minute private greatest. 

Diriba was intently adopted by 2023 Ottawa Marathon champion in second place (2:23:12) and Afera Godfay in third (2:23:15). This was the closest end between a prime three within the race’s historical past. 

🏆 Celebrating Girls’s Marathon Excellence! 🏆

A thunderous applause for Buze Diriba Kejela of Ethiopia, who clinched the ladies’s title on the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon with a outstanding time of two:23:11! 🌟🏃‍♀️🇪🇹

— TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon (@TOwaterfront42k)

Fozya Jemal Amid was proper on their heels, ending fourth in 2:23:18 (a private greatest); the U.S.’s Emily Durgin completed fifth in 2:26:46 in her debut marathon, nabbing herself a 2024 Olympic marathon qualifying time within the closest of margins. Durgin was the quickest North American finisher on the course, ending three minutes forward of her compatriot Molly Grabill. 

The ladies had been inside course document tempo for a lot of the race, however the chilly wind on Toronto’s lakeshore took its toll, and the ladies’s course document of two:22:16, set in 2019 by Kenya’s , remained intact.

Godfay, who held the quickest seed heading into the race, didn’t push the tempo, by no means taking a flip on the entrance to dam the wind. “I got here right here to win, and was upset to not,” mentioned Godfay on her third-place end. “Extra velocity received on the finish.”

On the post-race press convention, Diriba credited her monitor velocity for her capacity to separate from the 4 girls within the closing kilometre. (She has a private better of 14:50 for five,000m.) She got here into Sunday’s marathon with a PB of two:28:06 from the 2019 Houston Marathon. 

Pomerleau wins Canadian title

of Quebec was the shock winner of the Canadian Marathon Championships, inserting tenth total in her marathon debut, in 2:34:44. 

Pomerleau’s aim heading into her first marathon was to run beneath 2:40. On the ultimate nook, she overtook Anne-Marie Comeau, who had been main the Canadian girls for a lot of the second half of the race, beating her by seven seconds; Comeau completed as second Canadian, in 2:34:51. Tokyo Olympian  rounded out the Canadian girls’s podium for third, ending in 2:35:50.

High 10 girls

1. Buze Diriba Kejela ETH 2:23:11
2. Waganesh Mekasha ETH 2:23:12
3. Afera Godfay ETH 2:23:15
4. Fozya Jemal Amid ETH 2:23:18
5. Emily Durgin USA 2:26:46
6. Molly Grabill USA 2:29:45
7. Meseret Gebre ETH 2:29:54
8. Molly Bookmyer USA 2:30:37
9. Gada Bontu Bekele ETH 2:31:33
10. Caroline Pomerleau CAN 2:34:44 (debut, Canadian Marathon Champion)

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