Ethiopia’s Buze Diriba wins the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon in a wild end

On a windy marathon morning in Toronto, the ladies’s race got here all the way down to the wire, as 4 athletes, all of them from Ethiopia, completed inside seven seconds of one another. Ethiopia’s Buze Diriba Kejela was quickest to the road, taking the win in 2:23:11–a five-minute private finest. 

Diriba was intently adopted by 2023 Ottawa Marathon champion Waganesh Mekasha in second place (2:23:12) and Afera Godfay in third (2:23:15). This was the closest end between a high three within the race’s historical past. 

🏆 Celebrating Girls’s Marathon Excellence! 🏆

A thunderous applause for Buze Diriba Kejela of Ethiopia, who clinched the ladies’s title on the TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon with a outstanding time of two:23:11! #TOwaterfront42k #WomensRaceChampion 🌟🏃‍♀️🇪🇹 pic.twitter.com/6bv8vK2yXs

— TCS Toronto Waterfront Marathon (@TOwaterfront42k) October 15, 2023

Fozya Jemal Amid was proper on their heels, ending fourth in 2:23:18 (a private finest); the U.S.’s Emily Durgin completed fifth in 2:26:46 in her debut marathon, nabbing herself a 2024 Olympic marathon qualifying time within the closest of margins. Durgin was the quickest North American finisher on the course, ending three minutes forward of her compatriot Molly Grabill. 

The ladies had been inside course report tempo for a lot of the race, however the chilly wind on Toronto’s lakeshore took its toll, and the ladies’s course report of two:22:16, set in 2019 by Kenya’s Magdalyne Masai, remained intact.

Godfay, who held the quickest seed heading into the race, didn’t push the tempo, by no means taking a flip on the entrance to dam the wind. “I got here right here to win, and was upset to not,” mentioned Godfay on her third-place end. “Extra pace received on the finish.”

On the post-race press convention, Diriba credited her monitor pace for her potential to separate from the 4 girls within the last kilometre. (She has a private better of 14:50 for five,000m.) She got here into Sunday’s marathon with a PB of two:28:06 from the 2019 Houston Marathon. 

Pomerleau wins Canadian title

Caroline Pomerleau of Quebec was the shock winner of the Canadian Marathon Championships, putting tenth total in her marathon debut, in 2:34:44. 

Pomerleau’s objective heading into her first marathon was to run underneath 2:40. On the ultimate nook, she overtook Anne-Marie Comeau, who had been main the Canadian girls for a lot of the second half of the race, beating her by seven seconds; Comeau completed as second Canadian, in 2:34:51. Tokyo Olympian Dayna Pidhoresky rounded out the Canadian girls’s podium for third, ending in 2:35:50.

High 10 girls

1. Buze Diriba Kejela ETH 2:23:11
2. Waganesh Mekasha ETH 2:23:12
3. Afera Godfay ETH 2:23:15
4. Fozya Jemal Amid ETH 2:23:18
5. Emily Durgin USA 2:26:46
6. Molly Grabill USA 2:29:45
7. Meseret Gebre ETH 2:29:54
8. Molly Bookmyer USA 2:30:37
9. Gada Bontu Bekele ETH 2:31:33
10. Caroline Pomerleau CAN 2:34:44 (debut, Canadian Marathon Champion)

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