The Istanbul Marathon has a habit of making life difficult for marathoners.
The course saves its little gift for the end: an uphill run into the historic centre, precisely when the legs have spent 40 kilometres negotiating with the brain about whether continuing is really necessary.
That makes personal bests difficult to come by. It also makes for rather good racing.
On 1 November, defending champion Bizuager Aderra of Ethiopia will return to defend her title, but waiting for her will be former World Championships silver medallist Judith Korir of Kenya. The 2024 champion, Ethiopian Dejene Debela, also returns, giving the 48th edition of the Türkiye İş Bankası Istanbul Marathon a respectable collection of unfinished business.
Around 44,000 athletes are expected across the marathon and shorter-distance races.
Last year, Aderra emerged from a four-woman battle during the final kilometre to win in 2:26:19. More importantly, she somehow managed to run a personal best on a course that seems specifically designed to prevent such things. She took more than two minutes off her previous best.
“This was the biggest win of my life,” Aderra said afterward.
The 23-year-old then won the Shenyang Marathon in China in 2:30:21 during the summer. She has also set herself a rather more ambitious target: 2:20.
She has yet to get there.
Istanbul remains her best mark.
And now she has to defend the title.
Korir brings the credentials
Standing between Aderra and another victory is Korir, who arrives with considerably more experience at the sharp end of championship racing.
The Kenyan won silver at the 2022 World Championships marathon in Eugene, running 2:18:20 for a personal best. Later that year she ran another sub-2:19, finishing fourth in London in 2:18:43.
The 30-year-old was eighth in Milan this spring in 2:26:48.
She is also the fastest woman of the headline contenders on paper, which is a particularly useful distinction in a marathon until the road decides otherwise.
Ethiopian Kasaneh Baze and Kenya’s Veronica Maina add more depth to the field.
Baze ran 2:19:39 for third at the Hamburg Marathon this year, while Maina won in Wuhan in 2:24:14. Maina also knows precisely what Istanbul’s final climb feels like. She finished runner-up here in 2023 and was still involved in the fight for the win when the road tilted upward toward the finish.
That knowledge may be worth something.
Or it may simply mean she knows exactly what is coming.
Debela wants his crown back
The men’s race has its own returning champion.
Dejene Debela will make his third consecutive appearance in Istanbul and his first marathon start of the year. The 31-year-old Ethiopian owns a 2:05:46 personal best and claimed the biggest victory of his career when he won on the Blue Mosque Square in 2024.
Last year, he again found himself in the fight for victory, battling Kenya’s Rhonzas Kilimo deep into the race before settling for second.
This time, Debela wants the crown back.
He will have competition from another Ethiopian with a particularly reliable marathon résumé.
Belay Yihunle ran 2:05:57 in Hamburg this spring and has won the Seoul Marathon twice, in 2023 and 2024. He has raced extensively in Asia, particularly China, but Istanbul will be new territory.
Not entirely new Turkish territory, though.
Five years ago, Yihunle finished second at the Izmir Marathon.
He has also been remarkably consistent. Since 2019, with the exception of 2021, he has recorded at least one sub-2:08 marathon every year.
Woliyi is still looking for the obvious thing
The fastest man on the current start list is also one of its younger members.
Sufaro Woliyi, 23, returns to Istanbul after finishing third last year. He was only 14 seconds behind Aderra’s winning margin on the men’s side, which means he has already demonstrated that the course does not frighten him sufficiently to stay away.
Since then, Woliyi has lowered his personal best to 2:04:35 in Seoul this spring.
He finished fifth there, only 13 seconds behind the winner.
There is, however, one conspicuous omission from the Ethiopian’s résumé.
He has never won a marathon.
That could change on 1 November.
Then again, Istanbul has a long history of saving its final opinion for the final kilometre.
And that hill.
Always the hill.
