Eliud Kipchoge won the Melbourne Marathon on Sunday in two hours, nine minutes and 10 seconds, beating the race record by two seconds. At 41, the Kenyan claimed his first marathon victory in three years. He outlasted the field rather than waiting for a handout from the calendar.
Kipchoge, a two-time Olympic champion and former world record-holder, made his Melbourne debut and finished at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where thousands of fans watched. He didn’t hide what the result meant to him. “I believe that my body is still peaking – still able to compete with the next generation,” he said. “The oldest athlete is still competing but I am happy to run with the gen Zs.”
The Race
The contest stayed tight for most of the distance. Jimmy Whelan, a former Australian professional cyclist, stayed with Kipchoge until about 30 kilometres. Then Kipchoge made his move. “I [increased] the pace after 30km, to see whether I can run well and beat the [race record],” he said. “My plan went well.”
The plan worked with room to spare. Kipchoge waved to the crowd during the half-lap inside the MCG and could have finished a few seconds faster. A man chasing a record who eases off to acknowledge the crowd knows exactly what he has left.
Behind him, Australia’s Thomas Do Canto finished runner-up in 2:10:35, while Whelan came fifth. In the women’s race, New Zealand’s Camille French won in 2:28:25, followed by Australia’s Sinead Diver in 2:28.49. Australian Seth O’Donnell and New Zealander Georgie Gregec took the half-marathon titles.
A World Tour, One Continent at a Time
Melbourne was the third leg of a world tour in which Kipchoge planned to run a marathon on each continent, including Antarctica. It marked his second visit to Australia. He finished ninth in the 2025 Sydney Marathon, so Sunday’s win came against the memory of a rougher outing a year earlier.
He also did community work in Melbourne and praised the city’s sporting heritage. “The experience is awesome – the culture of Melbourne is wonderful,” he said. Describing the previous four days, he added: “I’ve seen myself, sport can do wonder. It was four-in-one – with the tennis, finishing at the cricket, the Olympics were here in 1956, running on the Formula One track.”
He spent well over half an hour celebrating with fans along the MCG boundary fence. “The crowd is so wonderful – I’ve never seen a crowd like this,” he said. “Melbourne is really, really a sporting city.” He said he’d return the following year to watch tennis and Formula One and to see people playing cricket, calling the course “the best track ever.”
Security Incident Near the Route
Not everything went smoothly on Sunday. Earlier that day, a car struck a woman near Flinders Street station, about 200 metres from the marathon route, and she went to hospital. Reports said nearby police officers drew their weapons after the car, which they had seen driving erratically, hit the woman at about 10.45am, made a U-turn and drove away. The woman went to Royal Melbourne Hospital; her condition wasn’t known.
Why This Matters:
Kipchoge’s win is a story about individual effort and private enterprise doing what it does best: a major sporting event drew thousands to a Melbourne landmark and put the city in front of a global audience. It also shows the value of a well-run public event, where organisers, volunteers and police share the work of keeping crowds safe. The incident near Flinders Street, 200 metres from the course, reminds us that large gatherings bring security demands, and that officers who respond quickly and decisively matter. Kipchoge’s record-setting run makes the case for sustained personal discipline over easy narratives of decline.