I've lost count of the number of glasses he has

It was last Gold in 2023. The requirements now are to have athletes with a certain status based on their world ranking position regardless of nationality so it wouldn't matter that it's dominated by Ethiopia.

They may have decided just not to apply for Gold status.

No argument with you on the human rights concerns about the country but the race hasn't got a Gold Label. It's a basic label race which only requires a $3000 fee.

Now we know why he suddenly joined Instagram

He finished 4th!

I'm particularly intrigued by how Tanzania's Alfonce Simbu gets on in Valencia after winning the African Military Games marathon last week.

I think this is more about preventing the risk of athletes being asked to purposefully underperform rather than incentivising them to break records.

and here's an intriguing new paragraph that's been added to the regulations for 2025.......

- the no. of gold status athletes to run in those races will⬆️from 120 to 130 per sex.
- the no. of platinum label marathons will be capped at 12 (in 2024 there are 12) based on length of holding the label (10) and prize money (2).
- the no. of platinum athletes stays at 45/sex