Belgian wins Rotterdam marathon breaking European record

Belgian athlete Bashir Abdi unofficially won the Rotterdam Marathon in a European record of 2 hours, 3 minutes and 35 seconds. Abdi was the first European in 23 years to win the Rotterdam race.

The 32-year-old improved the previous European record held by Kaan Kigen Özbilen from Turkey. He ran the Valencia marathon in 2015 with a time of 2.04.16.

Abdi came into the lead after the 36th kilometer. Keynan Marius Kipserem came in second around half a minute after Abdi, followed by Ethiopian Dawit Wolde 16 seconds later.

The three men stuck close to each other towards the end of the race, but Abdi was able to stay in front in the last six kilometers.

Abdi also won Olympic bronze at the games in Tokyo this past summer.

The winning time was below 2.03.39 with which Ethiopian Tamriat Tola won the Amsterdam marathon last Sunday.

Roy Hoornweg completed the marathon as the fastest Dutch runner in 2.16.38. It was above his intended finish time of 2.13 but the 32-year-old from Papendrecther was happy with the result.

"As a boy, I was always here to watch and wanted to become a marathon runner. I've looked forward to participating in the marathon my whole life and it has finally happened," Hoornweg said to NOS.

The fastest woman in the race was Kenyan Stella Barsosio. She finished with 2.22.08 still above the record of 2.18.58 set by Ethiopian Tiki Gelana in 2012. The fastest Dutch woman was Tirza van der Wolf with a time of 2.34.52.