ELITE RACE
Gerda Steyn
she bounced back from a disappointing Two Oceans to break the course record at the Loskop 50km – and that may have boosted her confidence going into the Comrades Marathon. Stelmach, Molinaro and the rest of the returning golds also bring a wealth of Comrades Marathon experience to the race, so anything can happen on the day.
Other local contenders who will be hoping to return to the gold medal positions will be Galaletsang Mekgoe and Jenna Challenor. Mekgoe finished fifth in 2022 and 11th in 2023, but had to settle for 62nd place last year, while Challenor, who was sixth in 2019 and fourth in 2022, will hope to be back amongst the golds after finishing 13th last year.
On the international front, many pundits have listed Nobukhosi Tshuma of Zimbabwe as a strong
contender. She finished fifth in 2024, recently finished a strong third at Two Oceans, and has been training in Kenya to prepare for this race. Also in contention may be Russian Yulia Ryzhankova, who was 10th in 2024 and 12th last year.
Action-packed Race Expected
The men’ s elite field consists of 97 runners, while the women’ s elite features 34 runners, all of whom had to apply to be seeded in the elite start group. They will line up at the front of the first starting group and will set off at 5h00. The elite race will be covered in depth by the live broadcast of the race, which can be viewed on the Comrades Marathon channel on YouTube.
Carla Molinaro
Shelmisth Muriuki
Irvette Van Zyl
Dominika Stelmach
The Comrades Marathon Association will host its pre-race Elite Athletes Media Briefing on Thursday 11 June, at 14h00 at the Southern Sun Elangeni Hotel in Durban. All accredited media are welcome to attend, and there will be opportunities to interview some of the leading contenders for the 2026 race.
For the Record
These were the top 10 men and women in the 2025 Comrades Marathon, with nearly all of them returning to compete again in 2026.
|
Men’ s Top 10
1 Tete Dijana
|
South Africa |
5:25:28 |
2 Piet Wiersma |
Netherlands |
5:25:33 |
3 Nikolai Volkov |
ANA |
5:29:42 |
4 Edward Mothibi |
South Africa |
5:31:41 |
5 Joseph Manyedi |
South Africa |
5:32:09 |
6 Alex Milne |
Great Britain |
5:34:08 |
7 David Gatebe |
South Africa |
5:34:30 |
8 Bongmusa Mthembu South Africa |
5:35:48 |
9 Gordon Lesetedi |
South Africa |
5:36:22 |
10 Vasilii Korytkin |
ANA |
5:38:59 |
|
Women’ s Top 10
1 Gerda Steyn
|
South Africa |
5:51:19 |
2 Alexandra Morozova ANA |
5:55:56 |
3 Shelmisth Muriuki |
Kenya |
6:07:56 |
4 Irvette Van Zyl |
South Africa |
6:11:35 |
5 Dominika Stelmach Poland |
6:12:02 |
6 Carla Molinaro |
Great Britain |
6:13:03 |
7 Jenet Mbhele |
South Africa |
6:14:24 |
8 Caitriona Jennings |
Republic of Ireland |
6:16:42 |
9 Courtney Olsen |
United States of America |
6:17:48 |
10 Melissah Gibson |
Great Britain |
6:19:59 |
The top four men in 2025, from left: Edward Mothibi, Piet Wiersma, Tete Dijana and Nikolai Volkov
The top four women in 2025, from left: Shelmisth Muriuki, Gerda Steyn Alexandra Morozova
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