Fearghal Curtin has broken the Irish national marathon record with a brilliant victory at the Gyeongju Marathon in South Korea.
The Youghal AC athlete was first across the line in two hours, seven minutes and 54 seconds to take 1:42 off Peter Lynch's time set in Dusseldorf earlier this year.
In what was only Curtin's second ever marathon, he ran a negative-split race, going through 20km in 61:34 and 30km in 1:31:33, picking his pace up as the race progressed.
Subject to ratification of Curtin's time, it will mean that in the space of 12 months four different people have held the Irish national marathon record: John Treacy (1988), Hiko Tonosa, Lynch and Curtin.
The 27-year-old upset some of the pre-race African favourites to win convincingly in humid conditions, finishing nearly three minutes clear of Antenayehu Dagnachew Yisma of Ethiopia, with Kenya's Stanley Kiprotich Bett third in a time of 2:11:07.
In addition to winning the race and breaking the national record, Curtin's time was well inside the automatic qualification for next summer's European Championships in Birmingham.
It marks an excellent 2025 to date for the Portuguese-based athlete, who continues to plot his way to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
On his marathon debut in April, he became the 10th fastest Irishman ever with a time of 2:11.35, while just last month he broke the Irish half-marathon record by clocking 1:00:22 in Copenhagen, bettering Efrem Gidey's time by 29 seconds.
Curtin will now turn his attention to the Singapore marathon in early December.
