George Kusche and Gerda Steyn produced superb performances on Sunday, winning the Comrades Marathon between Durban and Pietermaritzburg.
Competing in the ‘up’ run for the first time in his career, Kusche completed the race in 5:15:56, shattering the record of 5:24:49 set by Russian athlete Leonid Shvetsov in 2008.
In the women’s race, defending champion Steyn became only the second woman (after Russia’s Elena Nurgalieva) to win the Comrades title five times.
She completed the race in 5:44:53, obliterating her own record of 5:49:46 which she set in 2024.
Kusche and Steyn, who also broke the records for the fastest ever average pace at the annual ultra-marathon, each earned more than R2 million in prize money for their efforts.
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