Victory and Swiss record for Tadesse Abraham at the Zurich marathon

Tadesse Abraham celebrates twice in Zurich on Sunday: victory and a Swiss record.

Victory, record and championship title: Tadesse Abraham showed a strong race at the Zurich Marathon and could not be beaten.

Tadesse Abraham wins the Zurich marathon in ideal conditions and surprisingly improves his Swiss record. The 39-year-old top athlete from the LC Uster completed the 42.195 km in 2:06:38 hours. He undercut his own record, set in March 2016 as fourth in the marathon in Seoul, by two seconds.

In his record run in Zurich, Abraham delivered a small masterpiece – both tactically and physically – by being significantly faster on the second half of the course than on the first.

A real final sprint

After 21.1 km, the native Eritrean, who has been eligible to start for Switzerland since 2014, passed in 1:03:50 hours, for the second half he only needed 1:02:47. Thanks to a veritable final sprint in the last two kilometers, Abraham was even able to improve the national record.

At the finish he was well ahead of Burundian Oliver Irabaruta (2:07:13) and third-placed Kenyan Francis Cheruiyot (2:09:57). Abraham also won the Swiss championship title, which was also awarded at this race. It was the first title win for the Ustermer. (sda/zo)

Tadesse Abraham (Twitter / Swiss Athletics)

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