Alaa Hrioued at the start of the 39th Lifestar Malta Marathon

For the first time in its 39‐year history full of success and presti‐ gious results, the LifeStar Malta Marathon, scheduled for Sunday 25 February, will be broadcast live on television. It will be TVM Sport that will broadcast the en‐ tire event, from the start to the awards ceremony for a total of four hours of live coverage of the race, interviews, commentary and in‐depth coverage.

There are already 3,200 regis‐ tered participants, of which 2,200 are foreigners represent‐ ing 83 countries around the world. The most represented na‐ tion will be Great Britain with 414 athletes, followed by Italy with 233 and Poland with 166.

Also at the start will be 38‐year‐ old French‐Moroccan Alaa Hri‐ oued, three times (Albi 2018, Rennes 2021 and Deuville 2022) French marathon champion. Also among the favourites on the eve of the race is Moroccan Lhous‐ saine Oukhrid, who boasts a per‐ sonal best of 2:12:04, obtained in 2015 in the Florence Marathon.

Among the women in the race will be Sweden's Frida Sodemark, European team champion in the 100km race in 2015 and a mem‐ ber of the Swedish national team for ultra‐distance races.

The ladies winner of the 2023 Malta Marathon and course record holder of 2:36:51, Jemima Farley with be participating in the 2024 LifeStar Malta Half Marathon, Jemima is the clear favourite at the moment.

Andrew Grech 1st Maltese home in the 2023 Malta Marathon and previous other editions of the Malta Marathon, will again be taking part in the 2024 LifeStar Malta Marathon.

The bibs to the top runners will be handed over on Friday, 23 February at 6.30pm at the Sliema Band headquarters as part of NoMa 2024, an event organised in collaboration with Comites Italia and the Maltese‐Italian Chamber of Commerce to reward and enhance excellence in sport, culture, journalism and entrepre‐ neurship.