Romania's Joan Chelimo Melly made a victorious comeback to marathon running in the Incheon Marathon in South Korea on Sunday (23) morning.
In her first marathon since the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris where a right ankle injury forced her to withdraw before the halfway point, Chelimo took the spoils in 2:22:57 ahead of the Ethiopian duo of Enatnesh Tirusew (2:23:16) and Yeshi Chekole (2:23:26).
Chelimo also moves to third on the 2025 European marathon list behind Olympic champion Sifan Hassan (2:19:00) and Germany's Fabienne Konigstein (2:22:17).
This was just the 35-year-old's second victory of her marathon career with both victories coming on South Korean soil. Chelimo also won the Seoul Marathon in 2022 in a lifetime best of 2:18:04.
Chelimo also won a silver medal in the half marathon at the 2024 European Athletics Championships and the Kenyan-born Romanian will be one of the favourites at the full distance if she chooses to contest the marathon at next year's European Athletics Championships in Birmingham from 10-16 August.
Ethiopia's Gerba Dibaba won the men's race in a lifetime best of 2:06:52.