Tadesse Abraham surprises with a Swiss record in the last marathon of his career. The 42-year-old completed the 42.195 km in Valencia in 2:04:40 hours.
01.12.2024, 11:38
01.12.2024, 12:23
SDA
In ideal conditions, Abraham always ran at the limit, but in a controlled manner. He kept to his target of 1:02 hours at the half marathon mark and was then able to keep going - and work his way forward.
In the end, he finished in 5th place, with 29-year-old Kenyan Sebastian Sawe winning his marathon debut in 2:02:05. Abraham improved the Swiss record for the fifth time. This time by 21 seconds. The last time he ran the Swiss record was last spring in Barcelona (2:05:01).
Thanks to developments in footwear, the Eritrean-born runner is still able to set records at the age of 40. And he is also a very fit oldie. Only the world star Kenenisa Bekele has ever run a marathon faster in his over-40 age group (Valencia 2023, 2:04:19).
Three more road races
Abraham will now embark on a short farewell tour in Switzerland and compete in the Course de l'Escalade in his native Geneva, the Course de Noël in Sion and the Zurich Silvesterlauf.
Abraham was one of the figureheads of Swiss athletics for more than ten years. The Eritrean-born runner was able to represent his new home country for the first time at the 2014 European Championships in Zurich. Since then, he has impressed year after year with impressive performances at a high level.
His track record includes three Olympic appearances (7th place in Rio, 38th in Paris this year, beaten by Matthias Kyburz), two World Championship marathons and four European Championship starts. He experienced a career highlight at the 2016 European Championships in Amsterdam, where he became European champion in the half marathon both individually and with the team.
