For 20 miles, dozens of men’s lead packs meant that everyone would win the marathon. However, after that, Ethiopian Tamirat Tola soared uphill on the course and no one chose to go with him. Tora extended his lead for more than a minute and finished in 2 hours 5 minutes 36 seconds outside the University of Oregon’s Ozen Stadium. This is the record of the world championship.
Brotherhood Mosineto Gueremeu was second at 2:06:44, and Belgium’s Bashir Abdi was four seconds behind 2:06:48 to win the bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics last year.
American men were not a factor in the race. Galen Rupp, running in a college and lifelong state, looked comfortable for most of the race. However, he began to decline around 19 miles and even stopped during the race due to stretching. His 2:09:36 time was good at 19th place. He frowned when he crossed the finish line and doubled.
After the race, Lap said he wasn’t thinking of dropping out — “I didn’t mean to finish or cross that line,” he said — but he still runs another marathon in the fall. He said he was planning. Where did he say?
The lap was followed by American Elkana Kibeto in 24th place and Colin Mikou who fell to the drink station early in the race and finished in 46th place before needing treatment.
Tora’s victory was a bit surprising, but his skill was unquestionable. He won the bronze medal in the 10,000-meter race at the 2016 Olympics and finished second in the world championships at the marathon the following year. But since then, he hasn’t achieved the top three finishes in the major marathons.
After Tola’s surge, the number of candidates quickly dropped to five. However, in the last few kilometers, Gueremeu and Abdi soared from Cameron Levins of Canada and Jeffrey Camwaller of Kenya, winning the remaining two medals.
Despite just missing a medal, Levins was visibly excited by his performance, which set a national record in Canada. He was telling reporters about “the best race of his life”, so he had to turn his back to throw it out.
Eugene’s condition was perfect for a fast marathon. The temperature was in the mid-50s and it was cloudy from 6:15 am local time. The 3-loop course was pretty flat.
However, championship races are often run in a very different way than time trials, with the first half of the race running at a relatively pedestrian 2:08 pace. As a result, almost the entire field was organized in the first half of the race, and the lead pack was large even if the pace increased.
At times, the marathon felt more like a local 5K than a race featuring the fastest men in the world. Only about 60 athletes started the race, competing on narrow trails across the Willamette River through the recreational running trails of Alton Baker Park. At various points, the cyclist’s pack (only those who ride the bike, not the racers) pedaled with the runners.
The narrow course looked particularly dangerous at the drink station. Both Miko and Martefili of Israel collapsed trying to grab the bottle, and many other runners were lucky because they couldn’t suffer the same fate.
Miko, talking to a wheelchair reporter, said she stumbled because she was focused on trying to grab the bottle. After the race, his arms were rubbed and bloody. “I just wanted to make it strict,” he said.
While this field was strong by world championship standards, it could have disappointed fans accustomed to the Olympics and marathons in big cities such as New York and Berlin. World record holder and Olympic gold medalist Eliud Kipchoge skipped the race to compete in the more lucrative autumn marathon. Lawrence Cherono, who was fourth at the Tokyo Olympics a year ago, tested positive for banned drugs and was pulled a few days before the start. Kengo Suzuki, the Japanese record holder, tested positive for the coronavirus after arriving at Eugene and was not allowed to start.
Defending World Champion Relisa Desisa seemed to struggle throughout the race and dropped out at 18 miles.
