by Larry Eder
The iconic Dubai Marathon happened this past weekend in one of the world’s most famous destinations in the Middle East.
As usual, new stars in the event emerged with world leading and personal best times, setting the bar higher for the rest of the marathon season in 2026.
On his marathon debut, Nibret Melak of Ethiopia registered a world leading time of 2:04:00 to win the men’s race. The women’s race was also won by an Ethiopian runner, Anchinalu Dessie, in a similarly fascinating world leading time of 2:18:31.
Both races started together at 5:45 am, before the runners’ eyes could see beyond the area illuminated by the artificial lights.
Dubai is known to be relatively warm, which is one of the reasons for the early start—because nobody wants a marathon to turn into a slow roast by noon.
However, this year saw favourable weather for the thousands of marathon runners who turned out for the 25th anniversary of the marathon. While it was a little hard for fans to watch the races unfold in the first half, as runners were often silhouetted against the morning skyline, it was a familiar environment for the elite runners, who often do their long runs in similar dawn conditions.
At 30km in the men’s race, as soon as the sun finally emerged to witness the race, 26-year-old Melak began to break away from the rest of the elite field, never to look back as the chasing pack disintegrated behind him.
The 2024 African 10,000m champion continued to extend his lead to win the race almost two minutes ahead of his next competitor. Countryman Yasin Haji followed him for second place in 2:05:52 while John Hakizimana of Rwanda registered a new national record of 2:06:48 in third.
“I was very well prepared and it was always my goal to win on my debut. My big goal in the future is to break the world record,“ Melak said after the race.
Unlike the men’s race, the women’s remained unpredictable up to the last stages. A trio of Muliye Dekebo, Anchinalu Dessie and Fantu Worku remained close together at the front up to around 34K. When Worku began to lose ground soon after that, making it a two-horse race in the remaining kilometres.
23-year-old Dessie seized the opportunity to ease away at around 41K when Dekebo seemed to have had a little hiccup at the last drink station. She went on to claim the world leading time for women this year and improved her personal best by almost 4 minutes. Dekebo was rewarded with a personal best time of 2:18:43 in second. Worku finished third in 2:19:08, also a new personal best time.
