Jirata Dinki and Zeineba Yimer of Ethiopia won the Frankfurt Marathon in Germany on Sunday. Jirata won the men’s race in 2 hours, 5 minutes and 26 seconds, the race organizers reported. Zeineba won the women’s race in 2:19:45.
It was the second year in a row that Ethiopians won both races in Frankfurt. In 2025, Belay Asfaw and Buze Diriba took the titles. This year the runners started in rain and had to pass through deep puddles on the course, the German broadcaster Hessischer Rundfunk (hr) reported.
Jirata Passes the European Champion
Jirata came to Frankfurt with a best time of 2:08:18, according to the organizers’ start list. He ran almost three minutes faster on Sunday to set a new personal best, the German Press Agency (dpa) reported.
Germany’s Amanal Petros, the European champion, attacked after about 30 kilometers, hr said. At first only Kenya’s Benard Biwott could stay with him. Jirata kept running close behind and reached Petros again a few kilometers from the finish, when Biwott could no longer stay with the German.
Near the end, while Petros was leading, a food delivery rider who had stopped his bicycle close to the course got in his way, the news site t-online reported. Petros lost his rhythm, and Jirata used the moment to move past him. Jirata reached the finish inside the Festhalle 20 seconds ahead of him.
Video: the official livestream of the 2026 Frankfurt Marathon, in German, from the Runner’s World YouTube channel.
Petros finished second in 2:05:46, and Biwott, the 2024 winner, was third in 2:06:23. Petros told dpa that the heavy rain did not help and that he had no strength left at the end.
Israel’s Haimro Alame was fourth in 2:06:57, according to unofficial results posted by the Norwegian running site Sportsidioten. Germany’s Richard Ringer was fifth, and Abe Gashahun of Ethiopia finished sixth in 2:07:18. Andualem Belay, who had the second fastest best time in the field, was not among the top ten.
Zeineba Wins Four Weeks After Berlin
Zeineba came to Frankfurt as the fastest woman in a large Ethiopian group, with a best time of 2:18:47. She ran that time this spring, when she finished third in Barcelona. Four weeks before Sunday, she stopped at the 33rd kilometer of the Berlin Marathon because of stomach problems. The organizers said last week that the 28-year-old comes from South Wollo and lives in Addis Ababa.
Germany’s Blanka Dörfel was second in 2:20:46 in her first marathon. Her time makes the 24-year-old the second fastest German woman in history, dpa reported. Only Irina Mikitenko, who ran 2:19:19 in Berlin in 2008, has been faster.
Beriha Gebreslasie of Ethiopia finished third in 2:22:46. Ethiopian women also took the next three places on the Sportsidioten list. Aselef Amare was fourth in 2:25:30, Siranesh Yirga was fifth in 2:26:05, and Mehret Gemeda was sixth in 2:26:48. Meskerem Assefa, who won in Frankfurt in 2018, was not among the top ten.
A record 19,720 runners from 128 countries had registered for the 43rd edition of the race, the organizers said.
