48-year-old runner wins Switzerland’s Zürich Marathon

Continuing an athletics career spanning more than two decades, 48-year-old Kenyan marathoner Mark Kiptoo is still running some of the best times of his career. On Sunday at the 2025 Zürich Marathon in Switzerland, Kiptoo took his third consecutive victory, clocking 2:09:16—a shocking time for a runner often considered past his prime.

This was Kiptoo’s third straight win at the Zürich Marathon, having also won the race in 2023 and 2024. This was also his second fastest time on the course, only behind his M45+ masters marathon world record of 2:09:12. Kiptoo’s time was only four seconds off his own world record for his 45-49 age group. Although it’s not an age-group record, it’s the fastest ever marathon by a 48-year-old.

Kiptoo was 46 when he broke American/Kenyan Bernard Lagat’s previous M45+ age-group record of 2:14:23 by five minutes at the 2020 U.S. Olympic Trials in Atlanta.

Unlike many Kenyan athletes, who take up the sport in their youth or as a young adult. Kiptoo did not start running until he was well into his mid-20s while serving in the Kenyan Armed Forces. It wasn’t until Kiptoo was 31 that he competed for Kenya internationally for the first time in 2007.

Wow! 48-year-old Mark Kiptoo 🇰🇪 wins Zurich Marathon title for the 3rd consecutive time 👇🏾

Kiptoo proves that age is just a number!

Top 3 male finishers 👇🏾

1️⃣Mark Kosgei Kiptoo 🇰🇪 2:09:16
2️⃣Joel Kositany 🇰🇪 2:11:25
3️⃣Habtom Amaniel 2:11:27 (debut) pic.twitter.com/82EzBKxYWj

— Kenya One Sports 🇰🇪 (@TonnyKe11) April 13, 2025

Kiptoo, nicknamed “The Ageless Wonder,” has a marathon best of 2:06:00 from the Eindhoven Marathon in 2015, but has recorded sub-2:10 times in three of the last four years. He won Sunday’s event in Zürich by a significant two-minute margin over his Kenyan compatriot Joel Kipsang Kositany (2:11:25) and the Eritrean marathoner Amaniel Habtom (2:11:27), in what was a sprint finish for second place.

Kiptoo will turn 50 on June 21, 2026. If he can extend his Zürich winning streak until then, he has a chance to make history as the first 50-year-old to run a 2:10 marathon.

In the women’s race, Kenya’s Monicah Jeptoo took the win in a tactical race with a time of 2:35:35. For full results from Zürich, check here.