Ethiopia's Tigist Ketema clocks fastest debut of all time at Dubai Marathon 2024

Tigist Ketema of Ethiopia smashed the world record for the fastest marathon on debut at the Dubai Marathon 2024. The 23rd elite race in Dubai, UAE, witnessed Ketema clocking a time of 2:16:07 to become the eighth-quickest woman in the history of marathon running.

With this performance, she is now the third fastest in her country, only behind world record holder Tigist Assefa (2:11:53), and the 2023 World Athletics Championships gold medalist Amane Beriso (2:14:58).

World Athletics, the global governing body for Athletics, reported this regarding the record:

“Fastest marathon debut in history ‼️🇪🇹's Tigist Ketema clocks a stunning 2:16:07 at the Dubai Marathon 🙌”

Ruti Aga led a group of five women until the first 10 km in 32:18. When the race reached the halfway stage, defending champion Dera Dida couldn't keep up with Aga's pace and began losing control. However, with time, debutant Ketema started to assert her dominance.

With just five km left, she established a lead of two minutes over the runner-up of Dubai Marathon 2023. Tigist Ketema then passed the finish line and shattered the course record by a margin of over a minute.

Post her event, the 25-year-old stated in an interview:

“I was quite afraid of the distance before I ran my first marathon but now, I wonder why.”

This was Aga’s second-successive second-place finish as she clocked 2:18:09 to match her personal best which she attained at the Dongying Marathon 2023. Dida finished third with a time of 2:19:29, which is just five seconds short of her best timing that she clocked during the 2023 Berlin Marathon in September.

Tigist Ketema is a U20 World Championships medalist

Aaliyah Miller (left), Samantha Watson (center) and Tigist Ketema (right) celebrate after the women's 800 metres during the IAAF World U20 Championships on July 21, 2016 in Bydgoszcz, Poland. (Photo by Adam Nurkiewicz/Getty Images)

Tigist Ketema won the bronze medal at the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz in the women’s 800m, clocking 2:05.13, behind Samantha Watson (2:04.52) and Aaliyah Miller (2:05.06) of the United States.

Besides this, she clinched the gold medal at the 2017 African U20 Championships over the same distance. In 2022, she competed in the women’s category at the Great Ethiopian Run 10 km event, winning the title.

She served as the pacemaker for Faith Kipyegon at the Diamond League 2023 meeting in Paris where Faith scripted history as she set the World record in the women’s 5000m with a timing of 14:05.20.