Amane Beriso of Ethiopia won the women’s marathon at the Budapest 2023 World Athletics Championships.
She completed the race in 2 hours, 24 minutes, and 23 seconds after a tactical struggle that on Saturday, August 26, resulted in a thrilling finish.
In only her 11th marathon of her career, Beriso’s closing surge with roughly seven miles remaining enabled her to win her maiden championship event. Ethiopia once again made its imprint on the long-distance running community with an inspiring display of tenacity and determination. Fans were on the edge of their seats when the women’s marathon saw an Ethiopian 1-2 finish at the famous Heroes’ Square.
The Eugene marathon champion from 13 months prior, Gotytom Gebreslase, quickly overtook her drained countrywoman Yalemzerf Yehualaw to finish in second place overall in 2:24:34. Fatima Gardadi, the national champion of Morocco, ran the race of her life to place third in 2:25:17.
In a race when the temperature started at 23 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit) and rose to 29 degrees Celsius (84 degrees Fahrenheit) by the end, 65 of the 77 runners who started finished. Later in the day, when temperatures are anticipated to rise to about 35 Celsius (95 Fahrenheit), there were heat warnings in effect.