Kenya's Edwin Kibet Koech victorious in men's 2023 Lagos City Marathon

On his debut at the Access Bank Lagos City Marathon, Kenya's Edwin Kibet Koech won the men's international event clocking 2:14:06, going home with the winning price of $50,000.

The 27-year-old overcame the late surge of Ethiopia's Gaddisa Tafa Dekebe, who clocked a Personal Best (PB) of 2:14:54 to win $40000, while Bernard Sang, also from Kenya, finished third in 2:17:14 with the cash prize of $30000.

In his post-race interview, Kibet Koech talked about how the Kenyan weather is very different from Nigeria.

"Kenya and Nigeria is different. The humidity is very high here in Nigeria, so I tried to run my best and beat the time, to be able to win the race."

On winning the race: "I feel very proud, I feel very good. Maybe next year you can phone me again and I will come," he concluded.

Although, Kibet Koech's winning time was slower than last year's winner Deresa Gelata (Ethiopia) time of 2:11:58, however, it is the third fastest in the history of the Lagos Marathon, behind Kenya's David Barmasai's course record of 2:10:23 set in 2020.

Before the Access Bank Lagos Marathon, Kibet Koech had never competed in a full marathon and was a two-time World Cross Country Championships finalist. His main events are the long distance events, 3000m steeplechase and the half-marathon.

Dekebe, who won the silver medal, was making his second career marathon appearance in Lagos. His first marathon debut was in December 2022 in Tunis, where he ran a then PB of 2:15:24 before breaking it in Lagos.

While Sang, the most experienced among the medallists, placed seventh at the Istanbul Marathon in November last year. He has a marathon PB of 2:10:59 clocked in 2021.