Agnes Ngetich to make marathon debut in Valencia on 6 December

Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich, 25, world champion in the half marathon and cross country, will make her marathon debut at the Valencia Marathon Trinidad Alfonso Zurich on Sunday 6 December. The organisers announced it on Thursday 12 November, on Instagram among other channels. The race is a World Athletics Platinum Label road event.

The organisers presented the news with a message reading: «She has already made history on our streets… now, she dreams of doing it again over a new distance». Ngetich will face Ethiopia’s Fotyen Tesfay and the reigning champion, Joyciline Jepkosgei.

Valencia, the city of her road records

Ngetich knows the Valencia asphalt well. On 14 January 2024 she won the 10K Valencia Ibercaja in 28:46, a world record for 10 km on the road, after passing 5 km in 14:13. She took 28 seconds off the previous record, the 29:14 set by Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw in Castellón two years earlier.

In October 2024 she won the Valencia half marathon in 1:03:04, a Kenyan record and the second-best mark in history, twelve seconds off Letesenbet Gidey’s world record (1:02:52, Valencia 2021). In the same city she also set her 5 km best, 14:13, second on the all-time world list. In 2025 she won the half marathon again in 1:03:08, four seconds off her best; Tesfay was second that day in 1:05:10.

Her women-only 10 km world record is 29:27, achieved in Herzogenaurach (Germany) in April 2025. On the track, her best marks are 8:08.95 over 3,000 m and 14:01.29 over 5,000 m, both third on the all-time world list.

A season of world titles: cross country and half marathon

In January 2026 Ngetich won the World Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee, 42 seconds ahead of Uganda’s Joy Cheptoyek. It was her first senior title in the discipline; three years earlier she had won bronze in Bathurst.

In September, at the World Athletics Running World Championships in Copenhagen, she became half marathon world champion in 1:05:15, 50 seconds ahead of her compatriot Veronica Loleo. That time improved by one second the women-only half marathon world record, which Peres Jepchirchir had held since 2020. Her most recent race was the Tokyo Legacy half marathon, which she won in 1:04:23 in October.

Tesfay and Jepkosgei, rivals on her debut

Tesfay won the Barcelona Marathon in March 2026 in 2:10:51, the best women’s marathon debut in history, an Ethiopian record and the second-best mark of all time. In August she won the Buenos Aires half marathon in 1:03:57. Her presence in Valencia was announced earlier this year, when Yomif Kejelcha was confirmed for the men’s race.

Jepkosgei arrives as the 2025 champion with 2:14:00, the women’s course record in Valencia, and comes to defend her title.

Debut goals and the 1 million bonus for a world record

Ngetich’s manager, Davor Savija, explains that the athlete made the final decision to run in Valencia on 8 November, after checking that her body was responding well. She had already prepared for this race. On the goal, Savija says: «That is the reason she goes to Valencia», referring to running fast.

According to Savija, they have not discussed the time or the world record internally. «Is it 2:11? 2:12? It is too early to speculate on that», he says. Ngetich will decide her target pace two days before the race, when she arrives in Valencia and sees the weather forecast. He adds: «There is no need to put some numbers now and stress herself for three weeks».

Businessman Juan Roig, patron of the Valencia Marathon, is offering a bonus of 1 million euros for a world record, the only one Valencia has not achieved. The official women’s world record is 2:09:56, set by Ruth Chepngetich in Chicago in 2024.

The rest of the field: men’s race, international elite and Spanish runners

The men’s race will feature Yomif Kejelcha, who will run his second marathon after his 1:59:41 debut in London in April, and the reigning champion John Korir, also the Boston Marathon champion, who defends his title.

The organisers have also announced the American Emily Sisson (2:18:29), Kenya’s Lilian Kasait (2:19:35), Ethiopia’s Aberu Ayana (2:20:20) and Finland’s Alisa Vainio (2:20:39), European champion. Kenya’s Winnie Jepkosgei will also make her marathon debut.

The Spanish runners entered include Laura Luengo (2:22:31), Meritxell Soler (2:23:49), Fatima Ouhaddou (2:24:05) and Ester Navarrete (2:24:31). Irene Sánchez-Escribano, from Toledo and a 3,000 metres steeplechase specialist, will also debut over the distance. She made her half marathon debut in Valencia in 2024 in 1:09:10, after a fall in the final stretch, on the same day Ngetich won in 1:03:04.

Other notable debuts in Valencia

The race has a history of debuts over the distance. Letesenbet Gidey was second in 2022 in 2:16:49, and that same year Kelvin Kiptum won in 2:01:53. In 2023 Joshua Cheptegei finished 37th in 2:08:59, and in 2024 Sabastian Sawe won in 2:02:05.