The Comrades Marathon men’s race is set to be highly competitive with defending champion Tete Dijana, last up run winner Piet Wiersma, and other contenders like Edward Mothibi, Nikolai Volkov, and Joseph Manyedi all vying for victory. Seen here: Dijana winning the 2025 race just ahead of Wiersma. Picture: Sibonelo Ngcobo / Independent Newspapers
Image: Sibonelo Ngcobo / Independent Newspapers
While the women’s race has an overwhelming favourite in Gerda Steyn, there are a number of contenders that could win the men’s title at the Comrades Marathon on Sunday.
Approximately 21,633 runners are registered to make it to the starting line in Durban to begin their long journey inland on the up run to Pietermaritzburg.
Tete Dijana will stand at the start line as the defending champion, but standing alongside him will be Dutch athlete Piet Wiersma, who won the last up run in 2024.
Dijana, though, is a three-time champion, having also triumphed in 2023 and 2022.
Crucially, Dijana has not won an up run - and the challenge will be seeing if he can produce the same kind of performance on a vastly different course.
Of course, last year it was a magnificent battle between Dijana and Wiersma for the win. Ultimately, Dijana finished just five seconds ahead of Wiersma, which is incredible considering the length of the race.
It seems then that Wiersma could actually be the man to beat, as he had already triumphed on the up run.
Alongside them, former champion Edward Mothibi, Russian contender Nikolai Volkov, and the ever-consistent Joseph Manyedi are all fully capable of pulling off a historic victory.
In fact, the Russian Volkov could be the dark horse in this year’s race. At the age of 40, there will be few chances left to win the iconic race. There’s also the case that fellow European Vladimir Kotov had tremendous success at the turn of the century in the race. At the age of 42, he won his first Comrades title and went on to become a three-time champion over the next four years.
As for who will win the men’s race, it may just be too close to call - but if I were forced to bet my house, I’d go with Wiersma.