Agnes Jebet Ngetich will debut in the marathon distance at the Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Zurich Marathon on Sunday, December 6, 2026. The Kenyan, 25 years old, has chosen the city where she became the first woman to break 29 minutes in a 10K and where she has won the half marathon twice for her first marathon. In her 42.195-kilometer debut she will line up against Fotyen Tesfay, whose personal best stands at 2:10:52 (the second-fastest mark in history after the tainted world record), and Joyciline Jepkosgei, who returns to defend her title and holds the circuit record with 2:14:00.
Valencia, the City of Her Fastest Road Times
On January 14, 2024, Ngetich won the Valencia Ibercaja 10K in 28:46. The Kenyan shaved 28 seconds off the previous best, the 29:14 that Ethiopian Yalemzerf Yehualaw had achieved in Castellón two years earlier. Ngetich passed kilometer five in 14:13 and kept the pace to the finish. Her 28:46 remains the women’s world record for the 10 kilometers on a mixed course. In October of that year she returned to Valencia to make her debut in the half marathon. She won in 1:03:04, a Kenyan record and the second-best mark in history, twelve seconds behind the Letesenbet Gidey 1:02:52 she had posted in the same event in 2021 (world record). In 2025 she repeated with 1:03:08. The Kenyan again ran at near-world-record pace for much of the race and finished four seconds off her best. Fotyen Tesfay was second that day with 1:05:10. On December 6 they will meet again in Valencia, this time over double the distance.
Two World Titles Before Her Marathon Debut
The debut at the full marathon comes in a season in which Ngetich has already claimed two individual world titles. In January she was crowned the world cross country champion in Tallahassee, with a 42-second margin over Ugandan Joy Cheptoyek. It was her first absolute gold in the specialty, three years after she had won bronze in Bathurst. In September, in Copenhagen, she claimed the world half marathon title with 1:05:15. The time beat by one second the world record in a race restricted to women that Peres Jepchirchir had set in 2020. Ngetich beat by 50 seconds her compatriot Veronica Loleo, who finished second. She also holds the world record for 10 kilometers in a women-only event, 29:27, established in Herzogenaurach, Germany, in April 2025.
Her marathon debut poses a question different from her previous trips to Valencia. There she has already shown how far she can go in the 10K and the half marathon, and at both distances she has won with dreamlike splits. In December, one of the keys to her debut will be how she paces that rhythm in the first half and how she responds once the race passes 30 kilometers. In the same race group she will have two rivals with sub-2:15 marks and with marathon experience at that level.
Tesfay and Jepkosgei, the Benchmarks for Ngetich’s Debut
Fotyen Tesfay is the athlete with the best personal best among those announced for Valencia City of Running. Her 2:10:52 places her at the forefront of the lineup by times. Joyciline Jepkosgei already knows what it takes to win in Valencia. In 2025 she prevailed in 2:14:00, a circuit record, and will return in December to defend the title. Ngetich’s first marathon will thus have two direct references, the fastest woman on the entry list and the current race champion. The organizers have also announced the American Emily Sisson (2:18:29), the Kenyan Lilian Kasait (2:19:35), the Ethiopian Aberu Ayana (2:20:20), and the Finnish Alisa Vainio (2:20:39), the current European champion. The first international list also includes another distance debut, that of Kenyan Winnie Jepkosgei.
Among the Spanish entrants are Laura Luengo (2:22:31), (2:23:49), Fatima Ouhaddou (2:24:05) and Ester Navarrete (2:24:31). Irene Sánchez-Escribano will also debut in the 42.195 kilometers. The 3,000 meters steeplechase specialist had already chosen Valencia for her first half marathon in 2024. On that day, the same one when Ngetich won in 1:03:04, the Toledan finished in 1:09:10 after suffering a fall in the final stretch. Two years later, both will return to Valencia to run their first marathon.
