They went out slow and came home fast, and when it was over, and Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia was sprinting through the plaza and Les Invalides, the Olympic marathon once more proved why it can be that most captivating of races.
On a bright and clear morning in Paris, 80 of the world’s best distance runners blazed west out to Versailles and back to the center of the French capital, just ahead of a scorching afternoon, with Tola leading the way for most of it and finishing in an Olympic record time of two hours, 6 minutes, 21 seconds.
Tola continued to be one of the sport’s great late bloomers, a 32-year-old runner has become especially good at excelling in warmer conditions. He got his first big win at the World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Ore. in 2022, another summer race in uncomfortable conditions, then backed it up in New York last November, in unseasonably warm conditions unlike the cool start in Paris.
On Saturday morning, he captured another of the sport’s ultimate prizes, and he did it running with the kind of aggressive style befitting a runner on a serious hot streak.
After letting the little-known Eyob Faniel of Italy lead for most of the first half of the race, Tola made his first move just before the halfway mark.
He stayed at the front or close to it the rest of the way, putting the hammer down after 20 miles, surging up a hill through the forest west of the city limits to create a gap that began at more than 10 seconds between him and the chasers and stretching it out to 21 seconds by the time it was over.
Belgium’s Bashir Abdi took the silver medal and Kenya’s Benson Kipruto took the bronze.
Eliud Kipchoge, a two-time gold medalist and the only man to run the distance in less than two hours suffered from cramping early in the race and fell to the back of the pack.
More follows.
(Photo: Andrej Isakovic/AFP via Getty Images)
