On March 15, 2026, the Seoul Marathon began. Chinese athletes He Jie, Wu Bing and Su Fei competed; they were our focal points. The felt temperature at the start was around 5°C, He Jie skipped his originally planned Tokyo Marathon because he caught a cold during winter training, and instead came to Seoul today. As another Asian Platinum Label race, Seoul is familiar to Chinese runners; in 2023, Dong Guojian and Peng Jianhua both ran 2:10 in this race. After the start, He Jie, dressed in red, stuck close to the lead pack and stood out.14:44, He Jie passed the first 5 km timing point, averaging 2:57/km, this pace was very bold — 5 seconds faster than the first 5 km in Tokyo. 10 km, 29:18, second 5 km split 14:34, the lead group increased the pace to 2:55, and He Jie remained at the back of the lead pack. At the 15 km feed station He Jie had a mishap — he probably didn’t secure the bottle properly and chose to turn back to grab it, which caused him to lose some ground. At that time the leading group passed the timing point at roughly 44:34. Between 15–20 km, He Jie was gradually dropped by the lead group, after which the 2004-born Ethiopian athlete Haftamu Abadi began to push the pace, and the lead group started to fragment. Chasing on his own, He Jie found it hard to hold a pace under 3:00; his subsequent 5 km splits were generally slower than 15:30. From around 35 km a lead group of about eight remained, and with 1 km to go there were six contesting the win. Getaneh Molla surged, and only last year’s champion, Ethiopia’s Haftu Teklu Asefa, responded quickly and managed to pass in the final sprint, defending the Seoul Marathon title in 2:04:23 and setting a new PB. He Jie finished in 2:08:17, placing tenth overall, achieving his pre-race goal of running inside 2:10. After dropping off the main pack after 15 km his pace was affected, and he even missed a turn on the course. Having run this race after the shortest preparation period of his career, He Jie is fairly satisfied. The Asian Games this summer and races later in the year will be where he pursues bigger goals; hitting the Olympic qualifying standard for Los Angeles of 2:06:30 is definitely not his ultimate target. The young 2001-born athlete Su Fei set a new PB, finishing in 2:10:07. Another Chinese runner Sheng Wang also scored a PB at the Seoul Marathon, 2:12:36(displayed time) about 3 minutes faster than his previous PB. Chinese female athleteWu Bing finished the Seoul Marathon in 2:32:25, placing 10th in the women's race. Her 1-km pace dropped to 4:24 near the halfway point. Text: David /Editor:David Image:Trail Running Big Bang/Visuals:Max
