KUSCHE AND STEYN SET RECORDS AT THE 2026 COMRADES MARATHON
South Africa swept both titles at the 99th Comrades Marathon on Sunday, June 14, with George Kusche and Gerda Steyn each rewriting the record book on the up run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg.
Kusche covered the roughly 90-kilometer route in 5:15:56, the fastest up run in the race's history. The time erased the up-run record of 5:24:49 that Leonid Shvetsov set in 2008, a mark that had stood for 18 years. Kusche averaged 3:40.99 per kilometer across the climb inland, the quickest average pace ever run at Comrades in either direction.
The men's race held its shape over the final stretch. Piet Wiersma of the Netherlands finished second in 5:19:36, and Mbuti Mollo took third in 5:21:31. Wiersma, who won the down run in 2024, was the only non-South African on the men's podium.
Steyn won the women's race in 5:44:53, her fifth Comrades victory and her third on the up run. The time is the fastest a woman has run at Comrades, one second quicker than the 5:44:54 she ran on the down run in 2023. Her average of 4:01.24 per kilometer bettered her own previous best of 4:04.28 from 2024.
Nobukhosi Tshuma of Zimbabwe finished second in the women's race in 5:53:36. Irvette van Zyl was third in 6:02:30, completing an otherwise South African podium.
The up run reverses the more familiar coastal finish that defines much of the race's century of history. Runners leave Durban at sea level and climb close to 700 meters over the day, with the bulk of the elevation packed into the early sections through Cowies Hill, Field's Hill, and Botha's Hill. Steyn and Kusche both built their leads on those climbs and were never seriously challenged in the closing kilometers into Pietermaritzburg.
More than 21,000 runners started the race, which carried a prize purse topping R8.2 million. Both champions earned more than R2 million each once win bonuses and record incentives were counted.
Steyn had been the headline name entering the weekend, as the pre-race preview laid out, and her form held up against a field that included several sub-six-hour contenders. Her win continues a run of dominance that now spans both directions of the course and a range of conditions. The 2026 result moves her into rare company among the most decorated women in the race's century of history.
Kusche's win was the bigger surprise of the day. He had not previously won Comrades, and the record run announced him as the leading South African man over the ultra distance heading into the race's centenary year.
The 2027 edition will be the 100th running of the Comrades Marathon and reverts to the down run from Pietermaritzburg to Durban. Race organizers have scheduled it for Sunday, June 13, 2027, and expect another record field for the milestone.