Olympic champion Sifan Hassan and Ethiopian Hailemaryam Kiros both ran course record times to win the titles at the Sydney Marathon on Sunday as the race entered a new era as part of the World Marathon Majors series.

Dutchwoman Hassan showed her class to cross the line at the city’s Opera House in two hours, 18 minutes and 22 seconds, well clear of former world record holder Brigid Kosgei of Kenya with last year’s champion Workenesh Edesa third.

In the men’s race, Kiros broke clear of the leading pack with Addisu Gobena at about the 30 kilometre mark and outsprinted his compatriot to win in 2:06:06. Gobena was second while Tebello Ramakongoana of Lesotho was a third.

Kenyan marathon great Eliud Kipchoge, who turned 40 last year, dropped off the leading pack when the two Ethiopians broke away and finished ninth in 2:08:31.

Sydney put on its best face with bright sunshine and cool temperatures as the race joined New York, London, Boston, Chicago, Tokyo and Berlin on the elite majors circuit.

Ramakongoana led the top men across the city’s iconic Harbour Bridge at the head of the field of some 35,000 runners but was soon subsumed into a 25-strong leading pack

Gobena, a 20-year-old running his fourth marathon, made his move as the leaders ran through Centennial Park but Kiros stayed with him and was a comfortable winner in the fastest marathon time ever run on Australian soil.

“The competition was very tough, this was a strong, strong field,” said Kiros, who was fifth at the Berlin Marathon earlier this year.

“But we worked together as partners and now we’re here.”

Hassan said she paid the price for her fast start over the last part of the race but she held on to win her fourth marathon in six starts, including her triumph at last year’s Paris Olympics.

“In the last 10 kilometres I was thinking ‘Oh God, please I don’t want any drama, I just want a normal finish’,” the Ethiopian-born 32-year-old said.

“I pushed too hard at the start and learned my lesson … now I know that it doesn’t work. I’m very happy and very honoured. It’s history, it’s the first major marathon and I’m the first winner.”

It was only the second edition of the 25-year-old marathon run on the current layout.

Hassan’s mark improved Ethiopian Edesa’s winning time from last year of 2:21:41, while Kiros bettered Kenyan Brimin Kipkorir’s 2024 mark of 2:06:18.

Kipchoge, who has won two Olympic and 11 major marathons over his glorious career, said before the race that still competing at 40 was an achievement in itself.

“It was not my day today,” he said. “Above all, I have crossed the finish line to empower the people of Australia. To make Australia a running nation.”