Felix Kirwa won the Stockholm Marathon in a special way on Saturday. The Kenyan went wrong twice, but still managed to finish first.
Kirwa was leading the way with Ethiopian Tesfaye Lencho Anbesa and Merhawi Kesete from Eritrea when they were sent the wrong way for the first time. The trio quickly realized the mistake, but lost their lead over the pursuers.
Moments later, Kirwa, Anbesa and Kesete again broke away from the rest. There, however, it went wrong again, when they ran after a police motorcycle that went wrong. The riders only realized this later, so they had to go back and lost more than two minutes.
Despite the delay, Kirwa, Anbesa and Kesete eventually battled for the win, with the Kenyan showing himself the strongest. Kesete finished second.
Due to the delay, Kirwa did miss the course record. Since 2019, that has been in the name of the Ethiopian Nigussie Sahlesilassie, who took 2 hours, 10 minutes and 10 seconds. Despite the two blunders, Kirwa was less than a minute above that.
The Stockholm Marathon has been run since 1979. In 2020, an edition was canceled for the first time due to the corona pandemic. Fourteen thousand people took part in this year’s edition.