PARIS (AP) — Ethiopian runner Tamirat Tola won the men’s marathon at the Paris Olympics on Saturday to end Kenya’s dominance of the race.
Tola finished in an Olympic record time of 2 hours, 6 minutes and 26 seconds, with Belgium’s Bashir Abdi finishing 21 seconds behind and Benson Kipruto taking bronze for Kenya, 34 seconds back.
The 32-year-old Tola looked back as he neared the line, but he was well clear and had time to soak up the applause. Two weeks ago, he entered the Olympic marathon as a substitute for injured teammate Sisay Lemma.
“I was the reserve in the Ethiopian team, but when Sisay had injuries then I had a chance,” Tola said. “I was fully prepared and knew I could fulfil my dream. I am very proud, very happy.”
It was Tola’s second Olympic medal, with the other coming in the 10,000 meters at the 2016 Rio Games.
“After I came from track I achieved a lot in marathon,” said Tola, who broke a 12-year course record when he won last year’s New York marathon.
It was a second Olympic medal for the 35-year-old Abdi, too, and the Somalia-born athlete went one better than his bronze medal at the Tokyo Games three years ago.
Tola again got the better of Abdi in marathon at a major race. He beat him in the 2022 world championships, where Abdi finished third.
Britain’s Emile Cairess placed fourth on Saturday and even had enough energy for a sprint finish — of sorts — after 42 kilometers (26 miles) in the sun.
Two-time defending champion Eliud Kipchoge struggled throughout. He was more than eight minutes behind Tola at the 30-kilometer mark and did not finish.
The last non-Kenyan to win was Ugandan Stephen Kiprotich at the London Games in 2012.
The 39-year-old Kipchoge was looking to become the first man to win the race three times. Ethiopian Abebe Bikila won it consecutively in 1960 and 1964 and Waldemar Cierpinski did the same in 1976 and 1980 representing then-East Germany.
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Breaking from tradition, the men’s Olympic marathon was not held on the final day and instead the women will run on Sunday.
Starting out from Hôtel de Ville (City Hall), the route passed through the parks and forests dotted along the way. Despite its scenic aspect, the somewhat hilly route was billed as extremely difficult with inclines as steep as 13%.
“Going down for me was the most challenging,” Abdi said. “It was hurting your knees, your back.”
Kipruto found it less troublesome, saying “I did some preparations and so I knew what to expect.”
Under blue skies, runners took in landmarks such as Opéra Garnier and the Louvre museum. About halfway through, they passed near the regal grounds of the Palace of Versailles — once the home of French royalty — before doubling back through Meudon forest toward Paris and past the Eiffel Tower.
Tola was up front with Italian Eyob Faniel and American Conner Mantz approaching halfway, but they were caught as a big group formed again. Kipchoge was trailing by over a minute at this point and fell back.
Tola then pulled away and after 35 kilometers he was 18 seconds ahead of countryman Deresa Geleta, who finished fifth.
After two hours, runners approached the the gold-domed Invalides monument, site of French emperor Napoleon’s tomb.
Last year, hundreds of disgruntled French farmers drove up to Invalides monument to protest to be allowed to use banned pesticides on sugar beets and other crops.
No social tensions this time, just loud ovations and warm applause as each runner crossed the line, with the crowd hanging around to cheer the backmarkers.
The memory of Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum hovered over the race. The world record holder would’ve been a gold-medal favorite. He was killed along with his coach, Gervais Hakizimana, in a Feb. 11 crash that happened near the town of Kaptagat in western Kenya.
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