Elite Athlete Fields Set for 55th Running of AJC Peachtree Road Race

Two of the top road racers in the world will face off in the 55th Running of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race, organizers announced today.

In his first season of competition in the U.S., Sabastian Sawe comes to Atlanta ranked as the #1 road racer in the world, based on distances from 10K to the half marathon. The 29-year-old Kenyan brings a personal best of 26:49, the second-fastest 10K time in the world last year, and the reigning World Half Marathon Champion sits on top of the 2024 leaderboard for fastest half marathon in the world so far this year, 58:24.

In a rematch of those 2023 World Half Marathon Championships, Sawe will face Kenya’s Daniel Ebenyo, 28, who earned a silver medal in that race last fall. Ebenyo was leading until Sawe drew even with a few hundred meters remaining, going on to a four-second victory. “We pushed each other to a good result,” Ebenyo said afterward.

Ebenyo, the 2023 World Championships silver medalist at 10,000 meters on the track, is ranked #1 in the world for 10K on the roads. His personal best of 26:58 is second in the Peachtree field only to Sawe. Both will be making their Peachtree debuts.

Among the other top athletes in the field are Mathew Kimeli of Kenya (27:07) and Boniface Kibiwott (27:13) of Kenya and Jake Robertson of New Zealand (27:28). Returning to the Peachtree for the 10th time is American Elkanah Kibet, 41.

In the Shepherd Center Wheelchair Division, course record-holder Daniel Romanchuk of the USA (right) will have a chance to make history as the first athlete in the men’s open division to win the Peachtree seven times. Romanchuk, 25, has won Peachtree for the past six years in a row, but will have to fend off American Aaron Pike, a six-time Paralympian, and Josh Cassidy of Canada, a two-time Peachtree champion.

he field for the women’s footrace is headlined by 24-year-old Emmaculate Anyango, whose 10K personal best of 28:57 makes her the second-fastest woman in history at the distance. The Kenyan is currently ranked as the #4 road racer in the world.

Countrywoman Chelangat (30:01) will challenge her. Anyango and Chepkoech, who is tied for 8th-fastest woman in history, will be making their Peachtree debuts, while Chelangat is back after finishing second here last year.

Also returning will be Susannah Scaroni (left), the 2020 Paralympic gold medalist at 5,000 meters. The 33-year-old Peachtree course record-holder will be seeking her fourth win here since 2018 and third in a row. Scaroni missed the spring marathon season with an overuse injury but is apparently back to form: She set a World Record for 5,000 meters on the track in early June.

The winner of each professional division will receive $12,500.

For the first time, the Peachtree will feature an Elite High School Division, giving the best young distance runners in Georgia the chance to experience professional road racing first-hand. The field is composed of the top 20 boys and top 20 girls from the classes of 2025, 2026 and 2027 residing in Georgia who accepted an invitation from Atlanta Track Club.

The 55th Running of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Peachtree Road Race will be held Thursday, July 4, in Atlanta, Georgia, with 50,000 runners and walkers making their way from Lenox Square to Piedmont Park in the world’s largest 10K. The event will be livestreamed on AJC.com and on the AJC News app beginning at 6 a.m., with Lewis Johnson, Carrie Tollefson and Amanda McGrory leading the broadcast team.

posted Tuesday July 2nd
by Running USA