San Silvestre International 2024 standings: results and podiums

The 2024 international San Silvestre race standings left an edition to remember: Berihu Aregawi won the men’s race in 26:32, in a finish shared at the line with Jacob Kiplimo, while Marta García signed off with a hugely valuable victory in the women’s race in 31:19. The December 31 event once again turned Madrid into a human river of more than 40,000 people, with the Bernabéu as the starting point and Vallecas as the finish.

The most powerful fact was not just the win, but the context: Aregawi lowered the race record in a fiercely paced contest, Kiplimo held on until the finish as a block of pure endurance, and Adel Mechaal completed the men’s podium in 27:40. In the women’s race, Marta García beat favorite Ruth Chepngetich, who was second in 31:32, while Águeda Marqués closed the podium in 31:34. The final photo summed up the night well: a mix of elite quality, emotion, and popular noise that few races manage to sustain at the same time.

A big race, a tense night, and a finish line with its own name

The international San Silvestre Vallecana is no ordinary race: its standings read like a small map of the world’s distance running every December 31. The course, with the finish inside Vallecas stadium, demands both brains and lungs, because the atmosphere pushes you forward, but it also punishes you. In 2024, the 60th edition recovered all the solemnity of round-number anniversaries and left a clear feeling: there was quality, there was strategy, and there were legs capable of sustaining a race decided by seconds, not gestures.

The start once again was set beside the Santiago Bernabéu, and the route crossed Madrid like a taut rope all the way to the Vallecas stadium. Along that stretch, the international race standings became a real battle among top-level athletes, with changes of pace, short chases, and a final section where the body starts speaking louder than any plan. Aregawi’s 26:32 and Kiplimo’s simultaneous arrival were the clearest image of that contained battle.

The women’s race told a different story, equally solid and perhaps even more unexpected. Marta García won in 31:19 and ended a Spanish drought that had lasted since 2008, a fact that gives historical weight to her victory. It was not an afternoon of mathematical favoritism, but one of flawless execution: running without falling apart when the target time is hanging there, resisting when the favorite pushes, and finishing with the composure that separates a great mark from an unforgettable victory.

The men’s podium and the meaning of the duel between Aregawi and Kiplimo

Berihu Aregawi and Jacob Kiplimo crossed the line with the same official time, 26:32, but the official standings awarded the win to the Ethiopian. That apparent tie speaks to a race in which nobody gave up a single meter. Both sustained an extremely demanding duel and arrived together at the final stretch, where Vallecas usually turns into an amplifier of suffering. The stadium presses like a drum, the track stretches the feeling of emptiness in the legs, and the final push no longer belongs to the script, but to instinct.

Behind them came Adel Mechaal in 27:40, third in a race of enormous prestige. His place on the podium reinforced the sense of a very competitive edition, in which the Spanish runner once again played a relevant role against a top-tier international field. The gap between the lead group and the rest was small, but enough to establish hierarchy, and that is precisely what gives standings their value: not only who wins, but who manages to stay close when the pace no longer allows anyone to hide.

In a race of this level, time is not an isolated figure. 26:32 means passing through the filter of an explosive race while still being able to hold tension to the end. It also reflects the kind of effort the San Silvestre Vallecana demands: the speed of a winter 10K with an emotional component that doesn’t appear in the clocks, but does appear on the faces. The roar of the crowd, the cold night, and the density of the pack turn every step into a small negotiation between the body and the setting.

Marta García, a victory that changes the story of the women’s race

Marta García’s victory in 31:19 was one of the major athletics stories of the end of the year. Winning a race with the tradition and toughness of the international San Silvestre is not just about being first; it’s about doing it ahead of a rival like Ruth Chepngetich, a distance runner with a widely recognized career. García held the duel and delivered a highly meritorious performance, the kind that cannot be explained only by having a good day, but by reading the race with precision.

Chepngetich was second in 31:32 and Águeda Marqués finished third in 31:34, a minimal difference that makes clear how tight the fight for the honor places was. The three seconds between second and third speak of a race open until the end, of a finish in which any small change of pace could alter the podium. That is one of the keys explaining why the San Silvestre Vallecana remains a benchmark: it concentrates quality, tension, and visibility in a short, almost razor-sharp format.

Marta García’s victory also carries obvious symbolic weight. She was the first Spanish woman to win the race since 2008, and that places her within a historical line that does not depend on a single night, but is certainly fed by nights like this. It is not just a standings result: it is a photograph of sporting significance, a mark that connects with the recent evolution of Spanish distance running and with a generation of athletes that no longer settles for being part of the story, but for writing it.

The popular race, the other face of a massive day

The international San Silvestre usually takes center stage, but the popular race is the great social engine of the day. In 2024, Mohamed Massat Bouzahar won the men’s category in 29:07 and Esther Ramos took the women’s title in 34:38. In the context of such a huge event, those are times with a double reading: one of competitiveness and one of massive participation, because the popular race is a showcase of different paces, ages, and motivations.

The presence of more than 40,000 runners across the event turned Madrid into a continuous wave. The popular race works as a broader mirror than the elite field: it brings together those chasing a personal best, those running for tradition, and those who simply want to end the year with their running shoes on. That contrast between the international podium and the popular wave is part of the race’s charm, and it explains why the standings matter so much: not only because of the elite, but because of the event’s choral dimension.

From a journalistic point of view, the popular race also helps explain the true scale of the event. The noise is generated not only by the winners, but by the mass of runners filling the course and multiplying the visual impact in the streets. When the stadium receives the last athletes, the race has already stopped being just a competition and has become an urban ritual. Madrid bends to the rhythm of running, and Vallecas acts as the final sounding box.

What the standings say about the current level of international distance running

The 2024 standings offer a clear reading of the state of international distance running: the margins are small, preparation is more specific, and pace control is decisive. Aregawi, Kiplimo, Chepngetich, García, and Mechaal are not competing in a vacuum; they do so in a scene where every race matters as a season reference, a training block marker, and a status indicator. The San Silvestre Vallecana, with its blend of festival and exam, amplifies those readings.

The men’s winning time, 26:32, and the women’s, 31:19, place this edition within a very high range for a year-end urban race. It is not just about running fast, but about sustaining speed after weeks of load, travel, and competitive pressure. That combination is what makes this event so unique, because the calendar invites the season to close, but the athletes’ bodies are still responding as if we were in the middle of the season.

There is also an important nuance in the way the race is won. Some victories are built from far away; others, like Aregawi’s or Marta García’s, are decided in the stretch where the stage shrinks and everything is reduced to legs and mind. The final standings do not reflect the race’s internal turns, but they do leave an unmistakable clue: whoever wins here has usually managed the mix of pace, patience, and aggression better.

Why this edition weighs more than others in the race’s memory

The 60th edition did not just add a round number; it also reinforced the identity of the San Silvestre Vallecana as Spain’s great year-end athletics finale. Rayo Vallecano’s centenary added an emotional layer to the stadium atmosphere, with a visual tribute that connected the race to the neighborhood and to the club’s recent history. In events like this, context matters as much as the result, because people do not remember only who won, but what they felt when entering the stadium.

The Vallecas crowd did the rest. The stands turn the final straight into something like a sonic ambush: a place where the runner can no longer hear their own steps clearly. That tunnel-like emotional effect increases the difficulty and also the prestige of the standings, because not every course offers a finish with that symbolic weight. In other 10Ks the effort is similar; in Vallecas, it feels like running inside a scene whose epic already has part of its script written.

That is why the standings of the 2024 international San Silvestre should not be read as just a list of times. It is a synthesis of quality, history, and atmosphere. Aregawi and García signed two victories with different profiles, but both with the same foundation: the ability to prevail in a race where prestige is earned through seconds and composure. And that, at the end of the year, weighs almost as much as the mark itself.

A standings table that sums up Madrid’s year-end pulse

The 2024 results left a very precise image of the race: a huge participation event, demanding at the elite level, and deeply rooted in the city. The international San Silvestre maintains that rare balance between spectacle and performance that few popular races achieve. Its standings matter because they tell a broader story than a single victory: they explain how the athletics calendar closes with a postcard of speed, endurance, and neighborhood spirit.

Berihu Aregawi, Jacob Kiplimo, Adel Mechaal, Marta García, Ruth Chepngetich, and Águeda Marqués formed the visible part of a day that also belonged to thousands of anonymous runners. The official standings record podiums; the race, in contrast, records collective memory. Between those two things lies the weight of this edition, one of those nights in which the clock marks the end, but the city takes much longer to stop running.

In the final balance, 2024 confirmed that the San Silvestre Vallecana remains a reliable barometer of distance running in the middle of winter. The elite responded, the times were at a high level, and the atmosphere once again lived up to the legend. Very little more can be asked of a race that, every December 31, turns a standings table into a way of saying goodbye to the year.

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Official results: sportmaniacs.com.