Fatima Ouhaddou and Iliass Aouani won marathon gold at the 2025 European Running Championships in Leuven, Belgium on Sunday (13 April).
The first European Running Championships – including the marathon which is no longer part of the European Athletics Championships – started on Saturday with the half-marathons. Jimmy Gressier dominated for France, clocking 59:45 to win the men’s race by 83 seconds.
There was a home one-two in the women’s event with Chloe Herbiet taking gold in 1:10:43 ahead of fellow Belgian Juliette Thomas.
On Sunday, there was more glory for France as Yann Schrub headed a one-two in the men’s 10km. And Italy’s Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Nadia Battocletti added another medal to her collection with gold in the women’s race in 31:10.
Aouani made it a day to remember for Italy by claiming a surprise marathon title – on a course starting in Brussels and finishing in Leuven – in 2:09:05. He outsprinted Gashau Ayale to cross the line first with another Israeli, Maru Teferi, taking bronze.
And Spain has a first European women’s marathon champion courtesy of Ouhaddou. Despite suffering a heavy fall at a water stop, where she was brought down by a male runner who had tripped over, the 31-year-old recovered to win in 2:27:14 with teammate Majida Maayouf taking silver.
Scroll down for the results from the inaugural European Running Championships.