Finland’s Alisa Vainio continued her rise through the ranks of women's marathon running by taking her biggest victory to date in the Seville Marathon on Sunday (15) morning.
Vainio bided her time in the chasing pack through the halfway point which she reached in 70:34 before picking up the pace and moving through the field in the second half.
Vainio passed the long-time leader Mulat Tekle from Ethiopian just after the 35 kilometre checkpoint and the Finn forged on for victory in a Finnish record of 2:20:39 which was powered by a big negative second half split of 70:05.
Vainio took a dominant win in the end to become the first European winner of this race since Portugal's Filomena Costa in 2015. She won by over one minute from Kenya’s Beatrice Cheserek in 2:21:56 with Tekle fading to third in 2:22:03.
Vainio is renowned as a prolific racer and this was her fourth marathon within five months, all of them faster than the last one.
After finishing an excellent fifth in oppressive heat and humidity at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo in 2:28:32, Vainio won the Finnish marathon title in Vantaa just three weeks later in a national record of 2:23:06 before improving to 2:20:48 to finish fourth in the Valencia Marathon in December.
Just over two months later, Vainio slashed nine seconds from her Finnish record with 2:20:39 in Seville to put the sub-2:20 barrier even closer into view.
"I knew from training that I was in slightly better shape than in Valencia but many other things also affect the final result. I would have had a pretty good chance of running under 2:20, but that's in the future now. Of course I'm not disappointed with this run. This was really good," said Vainio as quoted by the Finnish Athletics Federation.
Fast debut marathon for Palmero
Behind the leading trio, there was an excellent debut at the distance for Italy’s Elisa Palmero who finished fourth in 2:24:10, one place ahead of European marathon champion Fatima Ouhaddou who was the leading Spanish finisher in fifth in 2:24:16.
Italy’s Rebecca Lonedo smashed her lifetime best to finish seventh in 2:24:28 while Czechia’s Tereza Hrochova was also rewarded with a lifetime best of 2:25:58 to finish ninth.
In a thrilling climax to the men's race with Shura Kitata out-diving his Ethiopian teammate Asrar Hiyrden for victory with both athletes timed in 2:03:59, Israel’s Bukayawe Malede was the leading European finisher in ninth in 2:07:38.
European all-time marathon list
2:13:44 - Sifan Hassan (NED), 2023
2:15:25 - Paula Radcliffe (GBR), 2003
2:17:45 - Lonah Chemtai Salpeter (ISR), 2020
2:18:04 - Joan Chelimo Melly (ROU), 2022
2:19:19 - Irina Mikitenko (GER), 2008
2:20:38 - Chloe Herbiet (BEL), 2025
2:20:39 - Alisa Vainio (FIN), 2026
2:20:47 - Galina Bogomolova (RUS), 2006
2:21:06 - Ingrid Kristiansen (NOR), 1985
2:21:24 - Calli Hauger-Thackery (GBR), 2024
