Gerda Steyn

Gerda Steyn (born 3 March 1990) is a South African marathon and ultramarathon athlete. She set the down-run record for the 90 km Comrades Marathon in 2023 with a mark of 5:44:54, becoming the fourth woman under 6 hours for that race.^{[citation needed]} She also holds the record for the 56 km Two Oceans Marathon and has won that event 6 consecutive times, starting in 2018.^[1]

Gerda Steyn

Personal information
Birth name	Gerda Steyn
Nationality	South African
Born	(1990-03-03) 3 March 1990 (age 35) Bothaville, Free State, South Africa
Education	University of the Free State
Occupation	long-distance runner
Years active	2014–present
Sport
Country	South Africa
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Marathon, Ultramarathon
Club	Phantane Athletics Club
Coached by	self coached
Achievements and titles
Personal bests	5 km: 15:45 (Kingsley 2020) 10 km: 32:24 (Dubai 2020) Half marathon: 1:10:55 (Ras Al Khaimah 2020) Marathon: 2:24:03 (Valencia Marathon 2023)

On 11 April 2021, she became the SA marathon record holder with a time of 2:25:28 at the Xiamen Tuscany Camp Elite Marathon in Siena, Italy. She then broke her own record at the 2023 Valencia marathon, setting a time of 2:24:03.^{[citation needed]}

Early life

Her parents are Pieter and Trudie Steyn. Gerda grew up on a farm in the Bothaville area and completed her schooling in 2008 at the Bothaville High School. Afterwards, she qualified as a quantity surveyor from the University of the Free State. She has a sister and a brother.^{[citation needed]}

Career

In 2014 she went to work in Dubai and joined a running club, where she discovered her talent for running.^[2] After completing her first Comrades in 2015, she met 1991 winner Nick Bester who became her coach.^[3]

Her first major career victory was in the 2018 Two Oceans Marathon, in a time of 3:39:32.^{[citation needed]}

She won the 2019 Comrades Marathon in a record time of 5 hours, 58 minutes, and 53 seconds, becoming the first woman to complete the uprun in under six hours.^[4]

She also won the 2019 Two Oceans Marathon in a time of 3:31:28. She won it for the fifth time in a row in 2024 and broke her course record with a time of 3:26:54.^[5]

She competed in the women's marathon at the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[6]

Her best time for a standard marathon is the SA record of 2:25:28, achieved in 2021 at the 2021 IAAF Xiamen Tuscany Camp Elite Marathon in Siena, Italy, breaking the previous 25-year-old SA record by more than a minute.^[7]

At the 2023 Valencia Marathon, Steyn finished in 11th running a time of 2:24:03 becoming the South African national record holder for the event.^[8]

Results

Year	Race	Place	Position	Time
2015	Comrades	Durban	56th	8:19:08
2016	Two Oceans	Cape Town	14th	4:15:44
	Comrades	Pietermaritzburg	14th	7:08:23
2017	Comrades	Durban	4th	6:45:45
2018	Two Oceans	Cape Town	1st	3:39:32
	Comrades	Pietermaritzburg	2nd	6:15:34
	New York Marathon	New York	13th	2:31:04[9]
2019	Two Oceans	Cape Town	1st	3:31:28
	Comrades	Durban	1st	5:58:53
	New York Marathon	New York	11th	2:27:48[9]
2020	London Marathon	London	7th	2:26:51[10]
2021	Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon	Port Elizabeth	2nd	1:12:14
	Giulietta e Romeo Half Marathon	Verona	4th	1:13:28
	Olympic Games	Sapporo	15th	2:32:10
	Cape Town Marathon	Cape Town	4th	2:26:25
2022	Two Oceans	Cape Town	1st	3:29:42[11]
	New York Marathon	New York	12th	2:30:22
2023	Two Oceans	Cape Town	1st	3:29:06[12]
	Comrades	Durban	1st	5:44:54
	Valencia Marathon	Valencia	11th	2:24:03
2024	Two Oceans	Cape Town	1st	3:26:54[5]
	Comrades	Pietermaritzburg	1st	5:49:46[13]
2025	Two Oceans	Cape Town	1st	3:29:09[1]