The men’s marathon at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, postponed to the summer of 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was highly anticipated. Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge, the Olympic champion from Rio 2016 and the world record holder, was the undeniable favorite. His goal was to defend the gold he won in Rio five years earlier (see https://www.onekmore.com/en/2024/06/08/marathon-olympic-champions-xxxvii-rio-2016-eliud-kipchoge-1984/).
However, there were strong contenders aiming to challenge him. Among the participants were five runners who had finished in the top-10 in the previous Olympic marathon. Additionally, the field included Ethiopian Lelisa Desisa, the 2019 world champion, and Kenyan Lawrence Cherono, the winner of the 2019 Boston and Chicago marathons.
As with the women’s marathon, the men’s race was held in Sapporo on August 8 to avoid Tokyo’s high temperatures. Despite this, the conditions were warm and humid at the 7:00 AM start time. The race began with a compact group maintaining a conservative pace, to save energy. The 10k mark was crossed in 30:53 by a group of 30 runners, including all the favourites.
With little change in the following kilometres, it wasn’t until the 25k mark that Kipchoge decided to take action. He began to gradually increase the pace, reducing the lead group to 10 runners by the 30k mark, which they crossed in 1:33:12. Kipchoge appeared comfortable and in control, while some of his closest rivals beginning to show signs of weakness.
Shortly after crossing the 31k mark, Kipchoge increased his pace significantly, leaving the rest of the group behind. By the 35k mark, which he crossed in 1:48:24, he had nearly a one-minute lead over his closest pursuers.
Maintaining a steady speed, demonstrating his mastery of the distance and major competitions, his lead continued to grow, reaching over 1.5 minutes by the 40k mark (2:03:50).
There was no one who could take the gold from him. With his victory, he joined the elite group of athletes who have defended their Olympic marathon gold, a feat previously told in our blog: Abebe Bikila and Waldemar Cierpinski. His finishing time: 2:08:38.
Joining him in the podium were Abdi Nageeye from the Netherlands (2:09:58) and Bashir Abdi from Belgium (2:10:00). Both runners displayed excellent race strategy under the challenging conditions of the event. Of the 106 runners who started, only 75 finished, with notable withdrawals including 2012 London Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich and world champion Lelisa Desisa.
Kipchoge’s career continued to shine in the following years, with victories in the Tokyo and Berlin Marathons in 2022, the latter in which he set a new world record of 2:01:09. In 2023, he won the London Marathon again.
Although Kipchoge will arrive in Paris almost 40 years old, aiming to be the first marathoner to win three Olympic marathon titles, there is no doubt he will be one of the main contenders. It will undoubtedly be a tough task. We will see its outcome in the coming days.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athletics_at_the_2020_Summer_Olympics_%E2%80%93_Men%27s_marathon
