Mohamed Esa set an African all-comers’ record to win the men\u2019s race and Dera Dida clinched women\u2019s race victory to complete an Ethiopian double at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon yesterday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Esa clocked 2:04:55 to take more than three minutes off the previous course record of 2:08:16, while Dida ran 2:23:18 to win by almost half a minute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Competing just over a month after being unable to finish the Boston Marathon, Esa clinched victory by four seconds ahead of his compatriot Yihunilign Adane. Keyna\u2019s Kalipus Lomwai was third in 2:05:06.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They all formed part of a group that passed halfway in 1:02:49 and were joined by Kenya\u2019s Leonard Langat in a four-man battle for victory as the race entered the final 5km.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Esa made a decisive move at the 40km mark, surging to the front and holding off his rivals. He crossed the finish line in 2:04:55 to secure the first marathon victory of his career after runner-up finishes in Tokyo in 2023 and Boston and Chicago in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo win my first marathon here in Africa, on home ground, and in a course-record time makes this victory very special to me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There was an Ethiopian top three in the women\u2019s contest as Berlin Marathon runner-up Dida ran a well-judged race to win by 27 seconds ahead of Mestawut Fikir. Waganesh Mekasha Amare completed the podium in 2:23:57.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
They all ran as part of a lead group that hit halfway in 1:12:33. Six athletes remained in contention at 35km before Dida moved away over the final few kilometres.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The event also marked the start of Kenyan marathon great Eliud Kipchoge\u2019s World Tour<\/a> \u2013 a quest to complete seven marathons across seven continents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The initiative marks a new chapter in the two-time Olympic champion\u2019s storied career, combining elite racing with a mission to \u201cunite the world through running.\u201d Each stop on the tour will also raise funds for the Eliud Kipchoge Foundation, which supports education and environmental projects around the globe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In Cape Town, the former world record-holder clocked 2:13:29. His next stop on the tour will be the Porto Alegre Marathon in Brazil on 12 July. Mohamed Esa set an African all-comers’ record to win the men\u2019s race and Dera Dida clinched women\u2019s race<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[50,137],"class_list":["post-13118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-athletics","tag-marathon"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mohamed-Esa-.jpg",1063,598,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mohamed-Esa--150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mohamed-Esa--300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mohamed-Esa--768x432.jpg",640,360,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mohamed-Esa--1024x576.jpg",640,360,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mohamed-Esa-.jpg",1063,598,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mohamed-Esa-.jpg",1063,598,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mohamed-Esa--825x575.jpg",825,575,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mohamed-Esa--590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Newsbeat<\/a>","tag_info":"Newsbeat","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Mohamed-Esa-.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13118"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13120,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13118\/revisions\/13120"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cCape Town, this was a special day,\u201d said Kipchoge. \u201cToday was a celebration of running on this beautiful course, supported by thousands of incredible fans singing and making music along the route, and by fellow runners sharing the same race. You all made our first stop on the tour one we\u2019ll never forget. I\u2019m proud to begin our world tour in Africa and to run my first-ever marathon on home soil. It was the perfect start.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"