This weekend, China's"season-opening spectacle" 2026 Xiamen Marathon is set to kick off, and the elite field has just been announced, not only are last year's men's and women's champions and the top Chinese male and female — these four title-holders — returning to the start line, but the entry list also features heavyweight names such as World Marathon Majors winners and National Games champions, a razor-sharp showdown is about to unfold.
Among the men's field,PB performances under 2:06 a total of five athletes. The defending champion DAWIT WOLDE Dawit Wolde was in strong form last year, not only winning and finishing second in China's two platinum-label events, the Xiamen Marathon and the Shanghai Marathon, respectively, but also taking victory at the Gifu Seiryu Half Marathon with a time of 1:00:06 to claim victory, marking a veritable "bumper harvest".
But his biggest rival, last year's Sydney Marathon champion Hailemaryam Kiros Hailemaryam Kiros has long had his eye on the Xiamen Marathon title. On the Sydney course, which is even tougher than the BiPo Marathon, he ran 2:06:06 , a time identical to Dawit Wolde's winning mark at last year's Xiamen Marathon. Considering the Xiamen course is easier than Sydney's, Kiros is bound to be a strong challenger to Dawit Wolde this year.
The men's course record of the Xiamen Marathon 2:06:06 — could it be broken again after last year's record? Let's wait and see.
Among the women,PB times SUB 222 are held by 5 runners.Defending champion RUTI AGA Ruti Aga has an impressive record in the World Marathon Majors, including the Tokyo Marathon — 1 gold,2 silvers,2 bronzes. Last year on Chinese soil, she won both the Xiamen Marathon and the Hangzhou Marathon, carrying strong momentum, and her winning time at last year's Xiamen Marathon, 2 hours 18 minutes 46 seconds was also close to her PB showing she was in good competitive shape.
Ruti·Aga's biggest rival is her Ethiopian compatriot Megertu Alemu Megertu Alemu. She has a silver and a bronze from Chicago and London, but has always been one step short of a World Marathon Major title, however she in 2024 she won Valencia — a fast course — and set a PB 2:16:49，该 PB time is more than a minute and a half faster than Ruti Aga's, giving her a significant psychological advantage.Alemu failed to finish the Shenzhen Marathon recently; hopefully she can recover quickly and add more excitement to this women's showdown.
Among Chinese athletes, both the men's and women's fields are star-studded, underscoring the caliber of this Platinum Label event.
The competition among China's male runners is focused on He Jie and Yang Shaohui, the two, as leading figures in China's men's marathon, will meet for their first head-to-head on the Xiamen Marathon course. Two years ago at Xiamen, He Jie2:14:17 finished as the second Chinese. This timehenaturallywillaim to takethe title.as his goal. After winning the National Games title, He Jie inevitably had to be busy with various affairs,and at last month's Ningde Marathon, He Jie did notshowa very good form. Whether the Ningxia Rose can bloom in Xiamen depends on how he has adjusted over the past month.
Chinese defending championYang Shaohui naturally won't hand over the title easily.As a pillar of Chinese men's marathon,'Da Fu's' steady performances are always reassuring; after the National Games, at the Ningde Marathon and Meishan 10K he has delivered steady performances, and we look forward to him continuing to produce outstanding results on the Xiamen Marathon course.
此外，管油胜、李子成、杨克古、仁青东知布、桑吉东知、杨定宏等知名选手也将参赛，稍微有些意外的是，之前在采访中说计划参赛的老将董国建目前未出现在精英名单中。
China's women's lineup is even more star-studded than the men's.SUB 230 athletes: 8 in total, Ciren Cuomu, Xu Bingjie, Lu Ying, and Li Meizhen — these four strong runners, who took second through fifth in the women's marathon at the National Games — will go head-to-head with last year's Chinese champion Zhang Xinyan. Bai Li, who finished second at the Haicang Half Marathon last month, will also join the Xiamen Marathon field. Overall, Ciren Cuomu looks to have a very good chance of winning.
The inclusion of several non-state-sponsored standouts Huang Xuemei、Zhou Xia、Pan Sufang、Huang Fei has added more intrigue to the Xiamen Marathon; will the fastest time by a Chinese mass-category female runner be broken at this year's Xiamen Marathon? It's worth noting that He Wuxia also appears on this edition's Xiamen Marathon elite list,She currently still focuses on track competition; whether she can achieve PB in this road race is worth watching.
Which athletes are you backing for this year's Xiamen Marathon?
Text:HP / Editor:HP
Photo：Trail Running Big Bang / Visual：Five-year Trainee
