Morocco’s Othmane El Goumri, aged 31, won the Sydney Marathon held in Australia on September 16, dedicating his victory to the victims of the deadly September 8 earthquake.
At the biggest marathon contest Australia has ever seen, with participants exceeding 40,000, El Goumri covered the 42-kilometer distance in a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 20 seconds.
Finishing second was Kenya’s Laban Kipngetich Korir with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 43 seconds, with Ethiopian Getaneh Molla Tamire coming in third, a minute and a half behind.
This race is considered El Goumri’s first participation since 2019 in the Irish capital Dublin, where he finished first but also broke the world record with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 5 seconds.
The previous world record was under the name of Kenyan runner Geoffrey Ndungu, with a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, and 33 seconds.
El Goumri also finished 9th at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games and 12th at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in the American city of Eugene.
Among the women, Kenyan-American Betsy Saina clinched first place with a time of 2 hours, 26 minutes, and 47 seconds.
Despite the devastation that afflicted several regions of the North African country, Moroccan athletes have been striving to make a name for themselves but also to show solidarity with the victims of the disaster.
For instance, the Moroccan national football team beat their Burkinabe counterparts 1-0 on September 12 in a friendly match that was preceded with a moment of silence for the victims and the reading of Quran verses for the deceased.
