Eliud Kipchoge won the Melbourne Marathon in two hours, nine minutes and 10 seconds, setting a race record by two seconds in his first marathon victory in three years. Thousands of fans watched the 41-year-old Kenyan cross the finish line at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Sunday. The race brought international competitors and spectators together around the city’s sporting venues.
Kipchoge said he can still compete with younger runners. “I believe that my body is still peaking – still able to compete with the next generation. The oldest athlete is still competing but I am happy to run with the gen Zs.”
The Race at the MCG
Jimmy Whelan, a former Australian professional cyclist, kept pace with Kipchoge until about 30 kilometres. Then Kipchoge picked up the pace and led the race to the finish. “I [increased] the pace after 30km, to see whether I can run well and beat the [race record]. My plan went well,” he said.
Kipchoge waved to spectators during a half-lap inside the MCG and could have finished a few seconds faster. He spent well over half an hour celebrating with fans along the ground’s boundary fence. “The crowd is so wonderful – I've never seen a crowd like this. Melbourne is really, really a sporting city,” he said.
Australia’s Thomas Do Canto finished second in 2:10:35, while Whelan took fifth. New Zealand’s Camille French won the women’s race in 2:28:25. Australia’s Sinead Diver finished second in 2:28.49. Australian Seth O'Donnell and New Zealander Georgie Gregec won the half-marathon titles.
A Visit Built Around Sport
Melbourne was the third leg of Kipchoge’s world tour. He planned to run a marathon on each continent, including Antarctica. He also took part in community work in Melbourne and spoke about the city’s sporting heritage.
“The experience is awesome – the culture of Melbourne is wonderful,” Kipchoge said. Recalling the previous four days, he said: “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.”
Kipchoge said he’d return the following year to watch tennis and Formula One and see people playing cricket. “This is the best track ever,” he said. He has visited Australia twice. He finished ninth in the 2025 Sydney Marathon.
Separate Incident Near the Route
Earlier on Sunday, a car struck a woman near Flinders Street station, about 200 metres from the marathon route. Police officers nearby drew their weapons after the car, reported to have been driving erratically, hit the woman at about 10.45am, made a U-turn and drove away.
Emergency services took the woman to Royal Melbourne Hospital. Her condition wasn’t known. The incident happened near the marathon route as thousands of fans watched Kipchoge’s record-breaking finish at the MCG.