On the morning of August 30, 2026, the 2026 Sydney Marathon concluded.

The top three men ran under 2:05, and the top seven all broke the previous course record (2:06:06).

The champion is Addisu Gobena of Ethiopia, a former javelin thrower, who wore a prototype of the Nike Alphafly 4. He broke away after 35 km and powered to a new course record of 2:04:42, shaving 1 minute 24 seconds off the previous mark. This is the 2004-born rising star’s first major marathon title; last year he finished second in Sydney in 2:06:16 and this year he took revenge.
 
Chimdessa Debele finished four seconds back in second. Tebello Ramakongoana of Lesotho opted for Xtep’s new flagship 160X 8.0 PRO and ran 2:04:57 to take third. He was also third last year (2:06:47) but improved by nearly two minutes this year — the 160X 8’s debut already reached the podium at a major; should be interesting to watch its future race performances.
 
On the women’s side, the champion and the third-place finisher wore the same model: the adidas ADIZERO ADIOS PRO EVO 3. The shoe helped Kenyan Peres JEPCHIRCHIR claim her first win since returning to competition, coming within nine seconds of the women’s course record set by Sifan Hassan in 2025 but falling short. Irine Cheptai ran 2:22:11 for second, and Shure Demise clocked 2:22:33 for third.
 
Across the top three spots in both men’s and women’s races, adidas claimed three places, Nike two, and Xtep one.

With autumn arriving, the pecking order for the major marathons is beginning to take shape — how will it shift from here?