Valencia Marathon, the setting for 20 new national records

Yesterday, the Valencia Marathon Trinidad Alfonso was the perfect setting for 20 new national records and for more than 60 athletes to achieve the Olympic qualifying time for Paris 2024, proving, once again, that Valencia Ciudad del Running is a place where athletes can run very fast.

In the men’s category, seven records were achieved, including the Spanish record set by Tariku Novales, with a time of 2:05:48. After Tariku, the fastest of the record-holders, Jami Segundo set Ecuador’s new record in 2:09:05, Davlatov Shokhrukh set Uzbekistan’s record in 2:07:02 and Daviti Kharazishvili set Georgia’s record in 2:11:46. In addition, Dario Ivanovski improved the North Macedonian record he already held with a time of 2:11:53. Jonathan Atse Herrera also achieved the best time for Côte d’Ivoire with 2:19:21 and debutante Alberto Gonzalez lowered the Guatemala record by almost five minutes with his 2:07:40.

In the women’s category, 13 national records were achieved, including Majida Maayouf’s record for Spain (2:21:27), almost five minutes faster than Marta Galimany’s 2:26:14 at the Valencia Marathon last year. The same time as Maayouf was clocked by Sutan Haydar, who improved on the Turkish record she herself had held since 2015, as did Fabienne Schlumpf, who lowered the Swiss record for the second time in 2023 with a time of 2:24:30, and Gerda Steyn, who improved on the Republic of South Africa record finishing in 2:24:03.

Italy also has a new national record since yesterday thanks to Sofiia Yaremchuk’s 2:23:16, as does Poland after Aleksandra Lisowsja finished in 2:25:52 and the Czech Republic after Moira Stewartová ran 2:25:36. Other countries with new national records after yesterday’s Valencia Marathon include Finland, when Camilla Richardsson came in on 2:24:38; Ecuador with Silvia Ortiz’s 2:24:50; Mauritius, with Marie Perrier’s time of 2:26:19; Austria with Julia Mayer finishing in 2:26:43; Venezuela and Magaly Garcia with a time of 2:31:54; and lastly Costa Rica with Diana Bogantes crossing the line in 2:32:08.

International Elite Coach Marc Roig explained “last year we achieved eight national records and we thought it was a historic milestone; now in 2023 we have pushed past that milestone until we can beat it again. This is how things are in Valencia.”

More than 60 Olympic qualifiers

In addition to the national records, the Valencia Marathon was the perfect preparation for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The top 37 women finishers and the top 28 men made the Olympic qualifying standard for Paris 2024 – which does not mean they will participate, only that they are eligible for selection by their countries. Furthermore, 568 participants ran under 2h30 and more than 5000 were sub 3 hours.