{"id":231661,"date":"2026-05-24T17:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T17:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldmarathoner.com\/?p=231661"},"modified":"2026-06-05T12:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:57:11","slug":"dera-dida-wins-the-womens-race-at-the-2026-cape-town-marathon-22318","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldmarathoner.com\/en\/dera-dida-wins-the-womens-race-at-the-2026-cape-town-marathon-22318\/","title":{"rendered":"Dera Dida Wins the Women\u2019s Race at the 2026 Cape Town Marathon (2:23:18)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dera Dida Wins the Women\u2019s Race at the 2026 Cape Town Marathon (2:23:18)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The women’s race at the 2026 Cape Town Marathon started at a fast but controlled pace. The opening 5 kilometers were covered in 17:13<\/strong>, equivalent to a 3:26\/km tempo. Ewnetie Dagnaw<\/strong> led an eleven\u2011woman pack that included Dera Dida Yami<\/strong>, Edna Kiplagat<\/strong>, Emebet Mamo<\/strong>, Mercy Kwambai<\/strong>, Vibian Chepkirui<\/strong> and Mestawut Fikir<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

A standout presence in the front group was 47\u2011year\u2011old Edna Kiplagat<\/strong> \u2014 a two\u2011time World Marathon Champion and the 2017 Boston winner. Her ability to remain in the lead pack at this stage, given the statistical norms of elite marathoning, was remarkable in itself.<\/p>\n

The decisive phase unfolded between kilometers 35 and 40. The leaders accelerated to a 3:12\/km pace, covering the segment in 16:00<\/strong>. Only four athletes remained in contention. Yami<\/strong> and Dagnaw<\/strong> reached the 40 km mark together in 2:16:11<\/strong>. Mestawut Fikir<\/strong> was 8 seconds behind, while Waganesh Amare<\/strong> passed in 2:16:27<\/strong>. Leah Cheruto<\/strong>, who had been leading through 30 km, slipped to a 39\u2011second deficit.<\/p>\n

The final 2.195 kilometers \u2014 along the inland turn through Mouille Point and into Vlei Road \u2014 would decide the winner. In the head\u2011to\u2011head battle, Dera Dida Yami<\/strong> proved strongest and crossed the finish line first in 2:23:18<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Ethiopia sweeps the podium<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Behind the winner, her compatriots Mestawut Fikir<\/strong> (2:23:46) and Waganesh Amare<\/strong> (2:23:57) completed the all\u2011Ethiopian podium. Leah Cheruto<\/strong> of Kenya, who had dictated the pace earlier in the race, finished fourth after losing contact during the late surge. The top six also included the ever\u2011reliable Edna Kiplagat<\/strong> and Gojjam Enyew<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Cape Town Marathon 2026 \u2013 Women\u2019s Results<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Place<\/th>\nAthlete<\/th>\nCountry<\/th>\nTime<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n
1<\/td>\nDera Dida Yami<\/td>\n\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf9 Ethiopia<\/td>\n2:23:18<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
2<\/td>\nMestawut Fikir<\/td>\n\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf9 Ethiopia<\/td>\n2:23:46<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
3<\/td>\nWaganesh Amare<\/td>\n\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf9 Ethiopia<\/td>\n2:23:57<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
4<\/td>\nLeah Cheruto<\/td>\n\ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddea Kenya<\/td>\n2:24:31<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
5<\/td>\nEdna Kiplagat<\/td>\n\ud83c\uddf0\ud83c\uddea Kenya<\/td>\n2:25:44<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
6<\/td>\nGojjam Enyew<\/td>\n\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf9 Ethiopia<\/td>\n2:26:24<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n
See also the men’s results:<\/strong>
\n
\nCape Town Marathon 2026 \u2013 Men\u2019s Race
\n<\/a><\/div>\n

Source: Cape Town Marathon \/ Abbott World Marathon Majors<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dera Dida claimed the women\u2019s title at the 2026 Cape Town Marathon in 2:23:18, outkicking Ewnetie Dagnaw in the final stretch as Ethiopia swept the podium with Fikir and Amare.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":231655,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-231661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cape-town-marathon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldmarathoner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldmarathoner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldmarathoner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldmarathoner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldmarathoner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=231661"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/worldmarathoner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231661\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231668,"href":"https:\/\/worldmarathoner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/231661\/revisions\/231668"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldmarathoner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/231655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldmarathoner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=231661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldmarathoner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=231661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldmarathoner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=231661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}