RunBlogRun comments: We at RunBlogRun don’t believe Tamirat Tolat got his moment of respect at the Paris Olympic Marathon. Many in the know talked about Tamirat as the top candidate for Paris after her victory in New York in November 2023. Ethiopia’s selection process is a complete mess, but thank God they finally selected Tamirat, who told this writer that he is training in Paris in February. In the 2024 RAK Half Marathon.
We first met Tamirat at the 2017 Dubai Marathon, where she won. (Thamirath’s brother and wife also won the Dubai Marathon.)
The course in Paris was horrendously difficult and Tola simply dominated the race. Where will he appear next?
Americans Connor Mantz and Clayton Young scored a perfect 8 and 9 in the men’s marathon at the Paris Olympics.
This is Rich Sands’ creation during the Men’s Paris Marathon.
TOLA WINS OLYMPIC MARATHON RECORD
By Rich Sands, @sands
(c) 2024 Race Results: Weeklyall rights reserved
NOTE: This story was written remotely with the help of a local report-ed.
(10-Aug) – When the Paris Olympic Marathon course opened two years ago, it was billed as an “unprecedented challenge” due to a series of ominously steep hills. Tamirat Tola was up for the challenge. Named to the Ethiopian team just two weeks ago as a replacement for Boston Marathon winner Sisai Lemma, the 32-year-old Tola made a bold move on the brutal hills in the second half, running away from the field and winning the gold medal by breaking the gold medal. During the Olympic record. Behind him, silver medalist Bashir Abdi of Belgium raced to the podium for the second straight Olympics, while Kenya’s Benson Kipruto took bronze.
It race started with 81 starters from 42 countries at the Hôtel de Ville, Paris City Hall, with bright sunshine and a temperature of 62F/17C, but it will soon rise. The course went in and out of some of the city’s iconic landmarks, and not long after cutting through the grounds of the Louvre Museum, the group hit the 5-K at a cautious 3:40 p.m., with runners definitely wary of the challenge. to come
Americans Conner Mantz and Clayton Young were near the front of a large group that ran the 10-K in 30:59. Italy’s Eyob Faniel then launched a solo run that would put him 23 seconds ahead in the 15-K (45:38) just ahead. racethe biggest hills of Two-time defending gold medalist Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya soon lost his composure and looked uncomfortable, later revealing he had back pain. He will eventually be out after 30-K.
“The hills didn’t affect me at all,” says 39-year-old Kipchoge. “The pain made me stop.”
Ahead, at 20-K, Faniel’s lead was down to 11 seconds (1:01:32) and Tola led the chase up the course’s first big hill. He and Mantz caught the Italian at 21-K and the trio raced past the Italian in 1:04:51, although Faniel was starting to fade away. (He would finish 43rd in 2:12:50.)
Eight men were together at the turning point at the Palace of Versailles at 23-K: Tola, Abdi, Kipruto, Mantz, Tanzania’s Alphonse Simbu, Japan’s Akira Akasaki, South Africa’s Elroy Gelant and Ethiopia’s Deresa Geleta. But approaching the extremely steep hill between 28 and 29km of the course, the pace eased enough to allow the lead to stretch to 15, including Young.
Paris 2024 Olympic Games – August 10: Images from the men’s marathon final (Photo: Mattia Ozbotti / World Athletics)
“I was disappointed when I heard another athlete was getting the package, but so excited when it was Clayton,” Mantz later wrote on Instagram. “Keep your friends close.”
The decisive step was the hill where the course rose to a 10.5% grade. Tola, winner of last year’s TCS New York Marathon and the 2022 World Championship Marathon, built a lead that would not be relinquished. By the time he topped the 30-K (1:31:12), his lead was 11 seconds, with Great Britain’s Emile Keires in second.
“My intention was to just follow the people who were going ahead, but when I caught them, I decided to continue alone,” Tola said. “I had trouble on the hilly section, so I was scared at that point.”
Tola ran a 14:02 split over the next 5-K segment thanks to a steep descent, and by 35-K (1:45:14), her lead was up to 18 seconds. With the Eiffel Tower in sight, Geleta, Abdi and Kipruto pulled away from Akasaki in a three-man battle for the final two spots on the podium.
Tola looked back and forth periodically, but showed no signs of slowing down. At 40-K (2:00:02) his lead was 22 seconds over Abdi, who started to pull away from Kipruto, with Geleta falling back. Despite the hills, Tola was on Olympic record pace, an incredible feat given the difficulty of the course.
Tola finally acknowledged the rousing support of the crowd with 200 meters to go, briefly celebrating before crossing the Esplanade des Invalides finish in 2:06:26. That shaved six seconds off the previous Olympic record set by the late Kenyan Sammy Wanjiru in 2008 (on a much smoother course).
Tola won the second Olympic medal of her career after winning bronze in the 10,000 meters in Rio 2016.
“Today I am happy because I fulfilled my goal. I prepared well. I trained a lot to be able to win,” said Tola. “This is my biggest achievement in my life.”
It is the fifth time an Ethiopian has won the Olympic marathon and the first since Gezahegne Abera won the gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Games.
Abdi, 35, crossed in 2:06:47, improving on the bronze he won in the Japanese city of Sapporo three years ago.
“This is the hardest marathon course I’ve ever run,” he said. “I expected the climb to be the hardest, but the descent was the hardest. It was very steep and you couldn’t control your body. It was very scary, especially on 29-K. We ran almost 2K and it just kept going down and down and I was terrified of falling.”
Kipruto, who won the Tokyo Marathon in March in 2:02:16 (currently the fastest time in the world this year), took bronze in 2:07:00.
“The course was tough, but I’m happy with the result I posted,” said the 33-year-old Kenyan, who has finished on the podium at the Boston and Chicago marathons in 2022 and 2023, including a victory in Chicago two years ago. . “I trained with my mind before moving on to my legs and heart. It wasn’t easy running up and down.”
Caress (2:07:29) moved up from sixth in the 40-K to finish fourth, followed by Geleta (2:07:31), Akasaki (2:07:32 PR) and Lesotho’s Tebello Ramakongoana (2:07:58 national record).
Mantz finished eighth in 2:08:12, followed by training partner Young (2:08:44), who happily soaked in the experience in the final stretch, then stood at the finish line to congratulate the athletes behind him.
“Thank you to everyone who cheered on both @_clayton_young_ and me (both near and far) today,” Mantz wrote in his Instagram post. “We’ve both had incredible support from family, friends and fans during this time.”
Leonard Korir (2:18:45), the third American racedropped out early and finished 63rd.
Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele, 42, a four-time gold medalist in running, finished 39th in 2:12:24 in her first Olympics since 2012. Tokyo Games silver medalist Abdi Nageye of the Netherlands and Kipchoge finished in 39th place. 10 contestants who have yet to graduate.
“I don’t know what my future holds,” said a pensive Kipchoge, less than a year removed from his last marathon victory in Berlin last September. “I will think about it in the next three months. I still want to try to run a couple of marathons.”
FINISHING
