Unlikely champion wins Venice Marathon after leaders make wrong turn

Italian Eyob Faniel won the Venice Marathon on Sunday after a bizarre incident in which the leading six runners took a wrong turn.

Favourites Abdulahl Dawud, Gilbert Kipleting Chumba, Kipkemei Mutai and David Kiprono Metto were among the leading group which followed a motorcycle off the course after 25 kilometres, covering several hundred metres before being made aware of their error and turning back. They lost around two minutes.

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Faniel, who runs for the local Venice Marathon Club, was around a minute behind the leaders at the time but found himself leading the race along with Mohammed Mussa, who he immediately dropped.

The 25-year-old Faniel went on to become the first Italian to win the race in 22 years.

Faniel finished in 2 hours, 12 minutes, 16 seconds, beating Mussa by nearly two minutes. Tariq Bamaarouf was third, just ahead of Chumba.