Buze Diriba Breaks the Course Record in the Rain: TCS Amsterdam Marathon 2026 Results

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At kilometre 25 of the women’s race in Amsterdam this morning, the lead group was 48 seconds behind course record pace. It was cold. It was raining. There was a headwind on the Amstel that had already cut the men’s pack down to size. Nobody with any sense was still thinking about Yalemzerf Yehualaw’s 2:16:52 from 2024. And then Buze Diriba went ahead and broke it anyway.

The 2026 TCS Amsterdam Marathon, run in conditions as far from ideal as October in the Netherlands can deliver, produced one of the most unexpected course records in recent Amsterdam history. Diriba finished in 2:16:12, 40 seconds inside the previous mark, having run the final 17 kilometres against the wind, the rain and everything the timing mats were telling her. If you needed a reminder of what the Amsterdam course is capable of producing even on a bad day, Sunday morning was it.

Buze Diriba Breaks the Amsterdam Women’s Course Record

Diriba came into Amsterdam with a personal best of 2:19:34. She left with a course record. The Ethiopian led an all-Ethiopian sweep of the podium with defending champion Aynalem Desta second in 2:17:06 and Meseret Belete, the 2023 Amsterdam winner, third in 2:18:06.

Desta, who ran 2:17:37 to win last year’s 50th anniversary edition, couldn’t hold Diriba in the closing stages despite having more course experience than anyone in the field. Belete, back at a race she won three years ago, finished strongly. The top five were all Ethiopian — Tiringo Mulu fourth in 2:20:36 and Mestawut Fikir fifth in 2:21:32 — on a day when the conditions were doing their best to make those times difficult.

The detail that puts the course record in proper context: the lead group was tracking nearly a minute behind record pace at the halfway point of the Amstel section. Diriba closed that gap entirely and then some. Over a flat course, in rain and wind, having been nowhere near record pace for most of the race, she ran the second half at a level that rewrote the Amsterdam record books. That is a genuinely unusual performance.

Lemi Berhanu Wins the Men’s Race as Kipkorir Falls Just Short

Ethiopia’s Lemi Berhanu won the men’s race in 2:03:33, a personal best by over a minute from his previous 2:04:33, in a finish that came down to a two-man sprint with Kenya’s Nicholas Kipkorir through the Vondelpark in the final kilometres. Kipkorir finished six seconds back in 2:03:39. Patrick Mosin of Kenya completed the podium in 2:03:58 — three men inside 2:04, all in wet, windy conditions, is a measure of how deep the men’s field was on the day.

The lead pack was large for most of the race. Mehdi Frère of France and Japan’s Yohei Ikedi both ran with the front group past kilometre 32 before the Africans moved away. Around km 38, six men were still in contact. Kipkorir hit the last water station and went, a surge big enough that only Berhanu could respond. From the Vondelpark entrance the two ran side by side. Berhanu sat in behind Kipkorir to manage the headwind, then came over the top at the Vondelpark exit and ran alone into the 1928 Olympic Stadium. The margin at the line was six seconds.

Defending champion Geofry Kipchumba, who ran 2:03:30 to set the course record on this course last October and then finished second at Tokyo in March in 2:03:37, dropped from the lead group shortly after the Ouderkerk aan de Amstel turnaround. He was left to run the exposed Amstel stretch back to Amsterdam alone, into the headwind. Title defences at this level leave little room for a bad day.

Kalipus Lomwai finished fourth in 2:04:08 and Sila Kiptoo fifth in 2:04:12. Kenya took four of the top five positions; Berhanu’s Ethiopian win was the exception in what was otherwise a Kenyan day from second place downward.

Dutch Running: Schutte Leads the Men, Choukoud Sets a Masters Record at 40

Noah Schutte was the fastest Dutch man on the day in 2:09:35, seven seconds outside his personal best on a course that cost everyone time on the Amstel. He ran into the Olympic Stadium to a full crowd and earned it: after Khalid Choukoud let him go at kilometre 14 following a brief thigh issue, Schutte ran most of the exposed river section without shelter. The Dutch crowd gave him what they had.

Choukoud, running his eighth Amsterdam Marathon at 40, finished in 2:14:09 — a new Dutch masters record. His four national marathon titles and a personal best of 2:07:37 from earlier in his career already made him one of the most decorated Dutch marathon runners of his generation. He added a masters record on a rainy Sunday in the city where he has won more national titles than anywhere else.

In the women’s race, Mikky Keetels was the fastest Dutch woman in 2:30:35, a personal record. She had been targeting sub-2:30 and the World Championships qualification standard. Neither happened on the day, but the PR gives her a better baseline heading into 2027. Bregje Smits finished second in 2:30:55 and Britt Ummels third in 2:36:46.