Two of the strongest marathon runners in Spain aim to add their names to the list of winners of the half marathon at the Generali Maratón de Málaga this Sunday, November 8, which will host 17,000 participants. The men’s race will witness a powerful duel between the Soria-born Dani Mateo, an Olympic marathoner in Tokyo with a personal best of 1h01:34 set in 2019 and who is preparing his participation in the Valencia Marathon in just over a month, and the León-born Jorge Blanco, who has represented Spain in multiple athletics disciplines and holds a best of 1h01:45 from two years ago.
In the women’s race, the favorite is the Burgos native Lidia Campo, an athlete specialized in the 21-kilometer event, boasting a personal best of 1h11:37 achieved in 2024 in Seville. This year she has been the national runner-up at the distance in Mérida and she arrives in peak form, as demonstrated by her 8th place at the most recent San Sebastián International Cross Country this past Sunday.
The race can be followed through RTVE, DAZN and Eurosport on Sunday from 8:30 a.m.
ATTACKING THE COURSE RECORDS OF THE MARATHONIn the marathon’s flagship event, contestants aim to break the two circuit records set last year, with a particular focus on the women’s side, where three athletes boast personal bests under the 2h24:43 mark set by Ethiopian Misgane Alemayehu Wolteji. The strongest candidates to go under are Kenyans: Ivyne Jeruto Lagat (2h22:21 achieved in Amsterdam in 2024), who this year won the tough Kigali Marathon; Rodah Jepkorir Tanui (2h23:13 when she won the Copenhagen Marathon in 2023), who comes off a near–victory in Buenos Aires; and Rebecca Kangogo Chesir (2h23:35), who indeed won that race in the Argentine capital with her personal best and also claimed victory this year in Stockholm.
Two more athletes arrive with times under 2:30: Kenyan Rebecah Jeruto Cherop (2h27:46 this year) and Ethiopian Bekelech Teku Wariyo (2h29:04 last year), along with Norwegian Sofie Karoline Haugen, who makes her distance debut with a half-marathon best of 1h09. In the men’s race, last year’s course record is held by Ugandan Mande Bushendich with 2h06:07, and the top contenders to beat it are Ethiopians Binhan Nebebew Testafe (2h06:52 in Lisbon 2019) and Gaddisa Tafa Dekeba (2h07:02 in Wuxi 2025), and Kenyan Timus Kipkosgei Kipkosgei (2h07:12 in his Milan 2024 victory). Three other men bring Málaga times under 2:10: Ethiopian Dereje Adugna Debela (2h08:54 in Seville 2025), Therence Bizoza (2h09:18 in Amsterdam 2023) and Kenyan Victor Kiplimo (2h09:58 in Hannover 2024). The Spanish athletics scene will be represented in the marathon by Madrid-born Alex Jiménez ‘El Balilla’, who two years ago delivered a major surprise in Valencia with a time of 2h10:29, and by the middle-distance runner Gonzalo Parra, who will serve as a pacemaker after proving his reliability in the half marathon.Two-thirds of the runners at the Generali Maratón de Málaga are foreigners from 75 different countries, arriving in the Costa del Sol capital drawn by a flatter, more straightforward course with fewer bends and, therefore, faster, featuring a coastal profile and aided by a weather forecast of between 17 and 21°C with cloudy skies and the hope that the wind will cooperate to help improve their marks.
The action gets underway at 8:30 a.m. on Sunday. Both the marathon and the half marathon will start from Paseo del Parque in front of the Town Hall, which will also host the marathon finish, while the 21-kilometer distance will conclude on Avenida Cánovas del Castillo.
