Bethwell Yegon headlines the Vienna City Marathon

Kenya’s Bethwell Yegon will make his return to the 40th edition of the Vienna City Marathon slated for April 21, 2024 in Vienna, Austria.

The 31 year-old will face-off with Ethiopia’s Chala Regasa, who is also targeting a first major marathon triumph with over a dozen athletes on the current start list who have personal records of sub 2:10 and a number of them hoping to qualify for the Olympic marathon in Paris this summer.

Two years ago, Yegon, ran a stunning race at the Berlin marathon, where when he came from far behind and overtook Ethiopia’s marathon legend Kenenisa Bekele and almost challenged for victory in the final stages but managed a second place finish and improving on his personal best by more than two minutes to 2:06.14.

“I am happy to return to Vienna and my goal is to fight for victory and take a place on the podium. Hopefully the weather conditions will be fine and there will be a strong group to run with,” said Yegon, who clocked 2:06.57 a year ago, which is the fifth fastest time ever run in the history of the Vienna City Marathon.

The 26 year-old Ethiopian knows the Vienna course as well, though in a different role, as he was part of the pace making team that supported Eliud Kipchoge when he sensationally broke the two hour marathon barrier in 2019.

Regasa comes to this race with the fastest time on paper of 2:06.11 that he got last year at the Rotterdam marathon, where he finished in fifth place.

Another title contender is Kenya’s Felix Kibitok, who holds a life time best of 2:06.28 that he got two years ago at the Barcelona marathon.

The 2022 Abu Dhabi marathon champion, Samsom Amare from Eritrea, has also been rolled in as he also carries a personal best of 2:07.10 that he got when winning the Abu Dhabi event.

The race organisers have assembled a strong field to try and chase the race course record of 2:05.08 set two years ago by Samwel Mailu from Kenya.