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Nibret Melak and Anchinalu Dessie made it an Ethiopian double as the Dubai Marathon celebrated its 25th anniversary with two world-class winning times.
Melak became yet another debut winner of the Middle East’s fastest marathon clocking 2:04:00, while Dessie continued her impressive marathon journey winning her third straight marathon in a personal best of 2:18:31. Both times are confirmed as world leading marks in 2026.
Running his first marathon Melak’s victory was remarkable. It was the sixth time in a row that the Dubai’s men’s race was taken by a debutant from Ethiopia - in total, including the women’s event, the race has been won by eleven debutants over this fast and flat course.
In very good weather conditions, fellow-Ethiopian Yasin Haji followed in second (2:05:52), while third placed John Hakizimana set a national record for Rwanda in 2:06:04.
“I was very well prepared and it was always my goal to win on my debut,“ said Melak, who belongs to the same training group in Addis Ababa as Ethiopia’s Olympic Marathon Champion Tamirat Tola. “My big goal in the future is to break the world record.“
In his debut race in Dubai he tied the third fastest time ever run on this course and missed the course record by just 26 seconds. After the finish line he celebrated with training partner and runner-up Haji.
Anchinalu Dessie was a late entry to the Dubai Marathon but finished first smashing her personal best by nearly four minutes. Fellow-Ethiopians Muliye Dekebo and Fantu Worku took second and third with 2:18:43 and 2:19:08 respectively.
In the final section of the women’s race Muliye Dekebo held a promising lead and looked the likely winner until, with little over 2km to go, she suddenly suffered stomach problems and Dessie passed her at the 40km mark and went on to celebrate her biggest career victory.
‘I thought I could still win it in the latter stages of the race and while it’s nice to run a personal best, but I think I can even run faster in the future,“ said the 23-year-old, who made it three marathon victories in three races. On her debut Dessie took the Seville Marathon a year ago with 2:22:17 and then won in Beijing in early November with 2:26:08.
After the race, the top three elites in each category received their medals and trophy from HE Saeed Hareb, Secretary General of the Dubai Sports Council. Including events at the shorter distances of 10km and 4km, the 25th Dubai Marathon drew a total of 20,000 entries, a record 4,000 of them in the marathon.
The 2026 Dubai Marathon is supported by ASICS, Dubai Sports Council, MG Motor, the Channel 4 Radio Network, ITP Media Group, Bisleri Water, Vitamin Well, Dubai RTA, Dubai Police, Dubai Municipality and Ciel Dubai Marina, Vignette Collection by IHG.
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