Gerda Steyn

Gerda Steyn, born 3 March 1990, is a South African marathon and ultramarathon athlete who set the down-run record for the 90 km Comrades Marathon in 2023 with 5:44:54, becoming the fourth woman under six hours for that race. She holds the record for the 56 km Two Oceans Marathon, which she has won seven consecutive times starting in 2018, and in 2019 she won the Comrades Marathon in a record 5 hours, 58 minutes and 53 seconds, the first woman to complete the up run in under six hours. She became the South African marathon record holder with 2:25:28 on 11 April 2021 in Siena, Italy, and lowered it to 2:24:03 at the 2023 Valencia marathon. A two-time Olympian, she competed for South Africa at the 2020 and 2024 Summer Games. She grew up on a farm in the Bothaville area, qualified as a quantity surveyor at the University of the Free State, and began running in Dubai in 2014.