European Championship records broken in women’s and men’s marathon

Finland’s Alisa Vainio and Amanal Petros of Germany set European Championship records in the women’s and men’s marathons on Sunday in Birmingham, England.

Vainio, 28, won in a time of 2:22:26, taking nearly three minutes off the previous championship record held by French woman Christelle Daunay from 2014.

The Fin, who is the fastest European this year with a time of 2:20:39 in February’s Seville marathon, paced the race with near-perfect splits. She went through halfway in 70:40 on an undulating, 5km lapped course around the city centre. Her three-minute lead at 13.1 miles had extended to nearly five by the finish, with Hungary’s Lili Anna Vindics-Toth holding out for silver (2:27:21).

Great Britain’s Abbie Donnelly was twelve seconds behind her to complete the podium, picking up a bronze on home soil for the nation’s first-ever medal in this event. Donnelly led GB to the team title — fastest three athletes for each nation — as Natasha Wilson came fifth (2:27:54) and Rose Harvey, who had been part of the lead pack up until halfway, finished 14th (2:30:34).

It’s a first senior international gold for Vainio, who was a steeplechaser earlier in her career, and placed fifth in the marathon at the World Championship’s last year.

“I felt so strong all the way,” Vainio said in the mixed zone. “I knew I was going to run fast and just waited to see if someone was coming with me, but I just ran alone.” She is now targeting the 2028 Olympics after spending two years preparing for this race. “I need to keep believing that I can stay strong and do it (medal) again. To win a European gold for Finland means a lot.”

Petros came out on top in a competitive men’s race that saw nine athletes break the old championship record of 2:09:51, which Belgium’s Koen Naert had held since 2018.

Eritrean-born Petros ran 2:09:11, winning by seven seconds ahead of Italy’s Pietro Riva, who took silver. Three seconds behind him was Gashua Ayale of Israel. The team title went to Israel, whose trio of Ethiopian-born runners — Ayale, Tadesse Getahon and Haimro Alame — finished third, fifth and eighth.

Like in the women’s race, the men were even in their pacing in ideal marathon conditions (12C/53 Fahrenheit at race start). The lead group of 24 athletes ran 65:03 through halfway, which included defending champion Richard Ringer of Germany, who finished 10th.

This win is significant for Petros, 31, who lost a sprint finish for gold at the 2025 World Championships to Tazmania’s Alphonce Simbu.

“I chose one of the best tactics,” Petros said in the mixed zone of his decision to pull away between 25 and 30km. “I made the right decision to move. The road was very hard and was one of the biggest challenges today. It was not easy.”

He is the German national record holder for the marathon, and explained that he trained at altitude in Kenya for this event, running 200km per week. Petros came 15th at this year’s London Marathon.