Ethiopia's Adisu Gobena secured his first-ever major marathon victory by setting a course record at the Sydney Marathon.

Gobena crossed the finish line in the men's race held in Sydney, Australia, on the 30th with a time of 2 hours, 4 minutes, and 42 seconds, holding off fellow Ethiopian Chimdessa Debele (2:04:46) to claim first place.

Born in October 2004, Gobena initially competed as a javelin thrower before taking up marathon running upon the recommendation of his relative, Ruti Aga, the women's champion of the 2019 Tokyo Marathon.

Gobena quickly made his mark after transitioning to long-distance running.

He won his debut full marathon at the Dubai Marathon held in January 2024 with a time of 2 hours, 5 minutes, and 1 second, and secured a silver medal at last year's Sydney event.

In the women's race of this year's event, Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya crossed the finish line in 2 hours, 18 minutes, and 31 seconds, claiming her fourth major marathon victory following the New York (2021), Boston (2022), and London (2024) marathons.

The Abbott World Marathon Majors (WMM) originally comprised six major marathons—Berlin, London, Chicago, New York, Boston, and Tokyo—with the Sydney Marathon being elevated to the series in 2025.

Cape Town, South Africa, is scheduled to host the 8th major marathon event in May next year.

Meanwhile, a mistake made during the manufacturing process of the medals at this year's Sydney Marathon drew attention.

The organizing committee mistakenly engraved Germany's Allianz Arena instead of Sydney's Allianz Stadium onto the landmark medals awarded to participants, and later acknowledged the error and apologized.

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)