Paris ( Imran Y. CHOUDHRY):- Full of color, energy, and unforgettable moments in the biggest marathon on Earth. The Paris Marathon 2025 saw an immense sea of runners descend upon the world’s most beautiful avenue Champs-Elysees in the French capital and broke the world record, with 56,950 participants completing the course. That’s almost 1,000 more finishers than the London Marathon.
Only a month ago, we heard the news that the London Marathon was aspiring to become the largest marathon held anywhere in the world, ever. To surpass the existing world record of 55,646 finishers, set by the New York City Marathon in November 2024.
Runners set off from the legendary Champs-Élysées, marking the start of a spectacular route through Paris. Despite the somewhat gloomy weather, the route offered a real immersion in the heart of the capital , passing through such iconic landmarks as the Place de la Concorde, theOpéra Garnier and the Place de la Bastille.
The peloton continued towards the Bois de Vincennes, bringing a breath of nature to this urban route. It was here that they discovered the only new feature of the edition: a passage through the Nation district, recently added to the route.
At the end of the race, participants skirted the Seine to greet the majestic Eiffel Tower, before concluding their effort in style onAvenue Foch, the traditional finishing point of the Paris marathon.
According to the Schneider Electric Paris Marathon, just over half of the participants were first-time marathon runners. This alone shows the growing appeal of the 42.195-km distance across nations, with a 33% of the finisher field comprising international runners. More women are now running the Paris Marathon, Just under a third of finishers 31% in 2025 were women, which is up from 28% in 2024 and 26% in 2023.
African runners once again dominated the Schneider Electric Marathon de Paris. Nine men reached km 30 in the lead group, but the Kenyan Benard Biwott, a few weeks shy of his 23rd birthday, unleashed a devastating acceleration at km 33 that blew the group to smithereens. He opened up a decisive gap in no time and cruised home in 2:05:25, just 54 seconds off the course record still held by fellow Kenyan Elisha Rotich, who had to settle for twelfth this time in 2025. “I’m really happy with the win”, beamed the victor. “I pushed hard all the way and I’m really pleased with my time. It was very tough, but I gave it everything I had.” He succeeded the Ethiopian Mulugeta Uma as champion and delivered the sixteenth win for Kenya in the streets of Paris. The Djiboutian Ibrahim Hassan put in a stellar run to take second in 2:06:13, with another Kenyan, Sila Kiptoo rounding out the podium in 2:06:21.
On the French side, Hassan Chahdi, 20th at the last Olympic Games, spent a long time in the lead group, only to throw in the towel shortly after the halfway points. Jason Pointeau was the best French performer in fifteenth place. His time of 2:13:36 put him just ahead of Florian Caro and Yohan Durand. “Being the top French runner means a lot to me”, said Pointeau. “It wasn’t even on my radar because Hassan Chahdi was on the start list. I was hoping to be the top French entrant… after him. I deduced from the cheers of the crowds that I was in that position, so I held on to that thought. I felt rubbish from the first couple of strides. I told myself I had to hang on in there. In the end, the last 15 K were not that bad. I’m pleased because I managed to finish on a high note.”
After a cautious first half of the women’s race, four runners broke free going into the final 10 kilometres. On the run-in towards Avenue Foch, the Ethiopian Bedatu Hirpa —who will soon turn 25 and took the Dubai Marathon in a personal best of 2:18:27 back in January, fellow Ethiopian Dera Dida, to cross the finish line with a time of 2:20:45 and secure the second Ethiopian triumph in Paris. She succeeded her countrywoman Mestawut Fikir. “I roared as I went over the finish line because I really wanted to win the Marathon de Paris. I was over the moon and wanted to express just how happy I was. It was a tough race, but victory washes away the suffering.” Dera Dida was the best of the rest at 4 seconds. The Kenyan Angela Tanui (2:21:07) took the bottom step of the podium. After flirting with the course record (2:19:48, set in 2022 by the Kenyan Judith Keptum, eighth today) for most of the race, the lead group faded somewhat in the final kilometres. Loréna Meningand’s metronomic consistency made her the top French runner, twelfth overall with a time of 2:36:33.
Photos @ Imran Y. CHOUDHRY