Ethiopia’s Tola wins gold in men’s marathon, Kipchoge drops out

Tamirat Tola built a strong early lead and crossed the finish line in 2:06:26s, good for the gold medal. (AP photo)

PARIS: Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola won gold in the men’s marathon at the Paris Olympics today, while Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge, who was aiming for his third consecutive Olympic title, failed to finish.

Belgium’s Bashir Abdi won silver, an improvement on his bronze in Tokyo, and Kenya’s Benson Kipruto took bronze.

Tola quickly built up a strong lead and crossed the finish line in a time of 2:06:26s, an Olympic record that is especially impressive because the course was the toughest of any Olympic Games or championships, according to World Athletics.

The former cross-country specialist emerged from a group of leaders after the first steep climb of an exceptionally hilly course, but seemed to only get stronger on the second hill, while the others behind him fell further and further back.

At 35 km, Tola had an 18-second lead. He increased that lead as the Eiffel Tower came into view and the crowds lining the streets cheered him on.

He became the first Ethiopian winner of the men’s Olympic marathon in 24 years.

Tola’s victory was all the sweeter because he was not initially in the team, having been called up after Sisay Lemma withdrew with a hamstring injury.

Tola, 32, won last year’s New York Marathon with a course record.

He crossed the finish line cheered on by Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopia’s former two-time Olympic champion in the 10,000 meters, whom he cited as one of his inspirations to become a marathon runner.

Abdi and Kipruto fought with Ethiopian Deresa Geleta for the next two places on the podium, but Geleta dropped away in the last 2km.

Abdi, who started his career competing in the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, finished in 2:06:47, while 33-year-old Kipruto posted a time of 2:07:00.

Kipruto had set the fastest time in the world this year after winning the Tokyo Marathon in March with a personal best of 2:02:16s.

He dedicated his bronze medal to Kelvin Kiptum, who died in a car crash in February at the age of 24 after breaking the world record for the marathon in Chicago last year.

Kipchoge, widely regarded as the greatest marathon runner of all time, failed to win a third consecutive gold medal, being defeated on the first climb of the course that took the athletes to Versailles.

He was among the leaders, but the hill caused the leading group to split up and proved too much for the 39-year-old, who was participating in his fifth Olympic Games.

“The first part of the race we were together, talking and trying to move together. But I don’t know what happened, so I’m going to go find him,” Kipruto said of Kipchoge after the finish.

Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele, who has the fifth fastest marathon time ever, finished 39th.

“It was difficult to challenge those guys,” said the 42-year-old.

Britain’s Emile Cairess finished an impressive fourth in 2:07:29s.

The 42km course started at the City Hall and took the athletes along the banks of the Seine and past monuments such as the Louvre and the Opera Garnier, before heading west to the Palace of Versailles, where they arrived after 25km, before returning to the city.

The runners – a total of 71 finishers, after ten dropped out – finished in front of the Invalides Monument, where Napoleon’s tomb is located.

The route in Paris was designed to commemorate a protest during the French Revolution, when thousands of women marched to Versailles to demand bread from the king.

The women’s marathon, which is normally held before the men’s marathon, will this time conclude the Olympic athletics programme and starts tomorrow at 8am local time.