Milkesa Mengesha and Tigist Ketema of Ethiopia win 50th edition of Berlin Marathon races

BERLIN (AP) — Ethiopians Milkesa Mengesha and Tigist Ketema won the men’s and women’s races in the 50th edition of the Berlin Marathon on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Mengesha finished strongly and ran a personal best time of 2 hours, 3 minutes and 17 seconds to finish ahead of Kenyans Cybrian Kotut and Stephen Kiprop in the men’s race. Haymanot Alew of Ethiopia was fourth.

Mengesha collapsed after crossing the finish line and wiped away tears as he was overcome by emotion.

The women’s result was clear long before the men’s as Ketema dropped her rivals before the half-way mark and finished in 2:16:42 – the third fastest time recorded in Berlin. Compatriots Mestawot Fikir and Bosena Mulatie followed in 2:18:48 and 2:19:00, respectively.

Conditions were perfect on a sunny crisp autumn day in the German capital.

A record number of 58,212 runners from 161 nations registered to run on the course where more world records (13) were set than any other. Another record was not expected this soon after the top stars raced at the Olympics last month.

It was the first Berlin Marathon without either Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge or Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele since 2014.

Kipchoge still holds the Berlin course record of 2:01:09 from 2022 – then a world record that was only beaten by Kelvin Kiptum with a time of 2:00:35 in the Chicago Marathon in October last year. The 24-year-old Kiptum was killed in a car crash in his native Kenya in February.

Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa set the women’s world record of 2:11:53 in the Berlin Marathon last year.

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Tigist Ketema from Ethiopia celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the women's division of the Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Tigist Ketema from Ethiopia attends the medals ceremony after she wins the women's division of the Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Tigist Ketema from Ethiopia celebrates as she crosses the finish line to win the women's division of the Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Tigist Ketema from Ethiopia celebrates as she crosses the finish line to win the women's division of the Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Milkesa Mengesha from Ethiopia lays on the ground and reacts after he crosses the finish line to win the men's division of the Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Milkesa Mengesha from Ethiopia celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the men's division of the Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Milkesa Mengesha from Ethiopia celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the men's division of the Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Milkesa Mengesha from Ethiopia celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the men's division of the Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

Milkesa Mengesha from Ethiopia celebrates as he crosses the finish line to win the men's division of the Berlin Marathon in Berlin, Germany, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Hezbollah has confirmed that one of its senior commanders, Ali Karaki, died in the Israeli airstrike that killed its top leader Hassan Nasrallah on Friday.

Israel has killed several top commanders in the Lebanese militant group in recent weeks in a series of strikes.

Earlier on Sunday, Israel said it killed another senior commander, Nabil Kaouk, the day before. Hezbollah has not yet confirmed his death.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

The Israeli military said Sunday that it killed another high-ranking Hezbollah official in an airstrike as the Lebanese militant group was reeling from a string of devastating blows and the killing of its overall leader, Hassan Nasrallah.

The military said Nabil Kaouk, the deputy head of Hezbollah's Central Council, was killed on Saturday. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah, and it was not known where the strike took place.

Several senior Hezbollah commanders have been killed in Israeli strikes in recent weeks, including founding members of the group who had evaded death or detention for decades and were close to Nasrallah himself.

Hezbollah has also been targeted by a sophisticated attack on its pagers and walkie-talkies that was widely blamed on Israel. A wave of Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon has killed at least 1,030 people — including 156 women and 87 children — in less than two weeks, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry.

Hundreds of thousands of people have been driven from their homes in Lebanon by the lastest strikes. The government estimates that around 250,000 are in shelters, with three to four times as many staying with friends or relatives, or camping out on the streets, Environment Minister Nasser Yassin told The Associated Press.

Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets and missiles into northern Israel, but most have been intercepted or fallen in open areas, causing few casualties and only scattered damage.

Kaouk was a veteran member of Hezbollah going back to the 1980s and served as Hezbollah's military commander in southern Lebanon during the 2006 war with Israel. He often appeared in local media, where he would comment on politics and security developments, and he gave eulogies at the funerals of senior militants. The United States had announced sanctions against him in 2020.

Hezbollah began firing rockets, missiles and drones into northern Israel after Hamas' Oct. 7 attack out of Gaza triggered the war there. Hezbollah and Hamas are allies that consider themselves part of an Iran-backed “Axis of Resistance” against Israel.

Israel has responded with waves of airstrikes, and the conflict has steadily ratcheted up to the brink of all-out war, raising fears of a region-wide conflagration.

Israel says it is determined to return some 60,000 of its citizens to communities in the north that were evacuated nearly a year ago. Hezbollah has said it will only halt its rocket fire if there is a cease-fire in Gaza, which has proven elusive despite months of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt.

Chehayeb reported from Beirut.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

A woman sleeps on Beirut's corniche after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

Children sit in a motorcycle cart in Beirut's Martyrs' square after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A boy sleeps in Beirut's Martyrs' square after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A family sleep on the ground in Beirut's corniche area after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

An elderly man stands near al-Amin Mosque in Beirut's Martyrs' square after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

People gather at the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

Families sleep on Beirut's corniche after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

A man stands on the rubble of buildings near the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A destroyed building at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A woman cares for her newborn girl, Fatima, in Beirut's Martyrs' square after fleeing the Israeli airstrikes in the southern suburbs of Dahiyeh, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)

People gather near the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

People check the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A hole in the ground near the site of the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)

A man walks on rubble at the site of an Israeli airstrike in Beirut's southern suburbs, Sunday, Sept. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)