The 48-year-old Mark Kiptoo from Kenya once again delivered an outstanding performance and became the first athlete ever to win the OCHSNER SPORT Zurich Marathon three times in a row.
On the women’s side, young Swiss athlete Ronja Hofstetter caused a sensation: In only her second marathon, she surprised everyone by finishing second behind Kenyan Monicah Jeptoo with a time of 2:38:48 hours – setting a clear new Swiss U23 record. “I always try to run with joy,” Hofstetter said in her finish-line interview. “That everything went so well today just makes me incredibly happy.”
At 1:15 pm, the half marathon got underway – a race introduced to the OCHSNER SPORT Zurich Marathon weekend in 2021. Here too, records were shattered. Elias Maiyo (KEN) won in 1:02:06 hours, smashing the previous course record of 1:04:53 hours. In the women’s race, Jeptarus Winnie (KEN) took the win in 1:08:59 hours, also setting a new course record. Swiss runner Fabienne Vonlanthen impressed with a new personal best of 1:14:52 hours, beating her own course record from 2024. “I made a big leap in performance last year and came into this race in even better shape,” said Vonlanthen. “The atmosphere along the course was unbelievable. I had goosebumps at the finish.”
The day concluded with the Z10 – Zurich 10k. Eritrean Seare Weldezghi claimed victory with a time of 29:37 minutes, missing the existing course record by just four seconds. Swiss talent Jan Rüttimann finished second, followed by Briton Jaime Burns in third. In the women’s race, Norway’s Live Solheimdal took the win ahead of Swiss runners Duvoisin Lohne and Alina Sonnig.
A new participation record was set with a total of 15,897 runners. The marathon saw 4,290 participants, the half marathon 7,401, and the Z10 – Zurich 10k 4,206. All race categories were sold out three months before the event – a clear sign of the growing popularity of the Zurich running festival.
Sandro Steimer, member of the executive board of ZH Marathon GmbH, stated:
“We’re extremely pleased with this year’s edition. The atmosphere from Bürkliplatz, across the Quaibrücke, to the finish at Sechseläutenplatz was simply amazing. The runners were literally carried to the finish by the crowds. Mark Kiptoo’s third consecutive victory, Ronja Hofstetter’s stunning performance, the record number of participants, the festival on Sechseläutenplatz – it couldn’t have gone any better today.”
