All it took was a push from 2019 Tokyo Marathon winner Ruti Aga. Perhaps she saw something special in her nephew, and Aga pushed him to switch from javelin throwing to distance running. Three years on, it turns out the elite marathoner saw something nobody else saw as Addisu Gobena won the Sydney Marathon, breaking the meet record.
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The 21-year-old crossed the line in a record-breaking 2:04:42, breaking the 2025 record of 2:06:06 set by then-winner Hailemaryam Kiros. The former record-breaker finished inside the top seven while Gobena finished second in 2025. It’s what pushed him to do better, learn from his mistakes and improve going into the 2026 edition of the marathon.
“I’m very happy,” Gobena said, according to Runners World, through a translator at the finish line. “Last year I came second. I learned from my mistake, and I went back home and I worked on my mistake to perform and break the record today.”
It does mark a startling rise, given that Addisu Gobena didn’t even run his first marathon until 2024. His first half-marathon? That was in 2023 when he finished third at the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon in India. Prior to that, the 21-year-old was primarily a javelin thrower who ran the occasional 400 m and 800m races.
However, that was until his aunt, Ruti Aga, stepped in. She saw his potential, and as an elite marathoner who has achieved a top-three finish in six World Marathon Majors, she knew exactly what she was looking at. And it all kicked off in 2024 despite poor results at both the New York City and London Marathons. He finished 22nd in the former and was a DNF in the latter before producing an unlikely win at the Dubai Marathon.
Gobena clocked 2:05:01, a stunning showcase of marathon running and then replicated that in 2025 at the Sydney Marathon. It was far from a perfect race for the then 20-year-old as he finished second behind record-setter and winner Hailemaryam Kiros. Even then, Gobena crossed the line in 2:06:16, a considerable improvement on the 2:14:49 he clocked a year earlier in New York.
But this time Addisu Gobena gave a tactical masterclass. The 21-year-old waited his turn, staying near the front for most of the race until he and Chimdessa Debele were the last two runners remaining in the field. The two then fought it out to the end with Debele, 22, pushing his 21-year-old rival Gobena.
It was only in the final half-mile that the younger of the two managed to find an extra kick and surged forward, winning by only three seconds.
While Addisu Gobena’s breakthrough headlined the men’s race, the women’s field produced its own story in Sydney. Peres Jepchirchir added another major marathon victory to her résumé, giving the 2026 edition two very different but equally impressive winners.
Peres Jepchirchir reflects on missing the Sydney course record
Few modern female marathoners have become as renowned as Peres Jepchirchir. The now-32-year-old is the reigning world champion and a former Olympic champion in the distance. However, 2025 proved to be a tough end for Jepchirchir after a stress fracture sidelined her. It forced her out of the 2026 London Marathon as well even though she resumed training in late January.
However, the Kenyan was in the start list for the Sydney Marathon, and many expected her to chase after Sifan Hassan’s course record. That’s exactly what Peres Jepchirchir did.
Unlike Addisu Gobena, though, the 32-year-old finished nine seconds behind the record. Hassan clocked 2:18:22 during the 2025 edition of the marathon, with Jepchirchir finishing the 2026 one in 2:18:31.
“The course was tough, but I came good, I managed to win,” Jepchirchir said, according to Nine.com.au. “I was not expecting to win…I was prepared, but I was not sure when I came here if I would win, but I’m so glad and I’m so happy.”
The win means that Peres Jepchirchir has now won four of the seven majors after winning New York (2021), Boston (2022) and London (2024). Addisu Gobena’s Sydney win shows just how quickly a career can change after switching sports.
Two years after leaving javelin behind, he is now a marathon record holder, while Jepchirchir’s victory added another major result to an already decorated career.