Kenya's Jepchirchir wins marathon gold in thrilling last-spurt duel

...Jepchirchir wins first world title by 2 seconds

...Paternain earns Uruguay's first ever medal at the World Championships

By Chang-Ran Kim and Nick Mulvenney

  

 

 

Kenya's Peres Jepchirchir edged Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa in a thrilling sprint finish at Tokyo's National Stadium to win the women's marathon at the world championships on Sunday, adding the world title to the Olympic crown she won in Sapporo in 2021.

The 31-year-old broke the tape at two hours, 24 minutes and 43 seconds, just two seconds ahead of Paris silver medallist Assefa.

 

In the wide-open battle for bronze, a surprised Julia Paternain triumphed to give Uruguay its first-ever medal at the World Athletics Championships, clocking 2:27.23 in her first world championships and only her second ever marathon.

For more than two-thirds of the race, Jepchirchir and Assefa were content to hang back as American Susanna Sullivan charged ahead solo looking dominant and in control.

The tables suddenly turned around 90 minutes in, when Assefa and Jepchirchir pulled ahead to take the lead and stay there side by side for the rest of the course. Sullivan ultimately finished fourth.

Once in the lead, it was Assefa, winner of the London marathon in April, who looked more comfortable as the Kenyan appeared to struggle in the stifling Tokyo heat.

 

Still, Jepchirchir managed to match her rival stride for stride for the remainder of the race, finding one last kick as the pair ran around the National Stadium track to surge ahead and claim her first world title.

"I am so happy with what I have done in Tokyo," she said. "It was so hot, so difficult... When I entered the stadium, I got a lot of energy from the fans."

The start of the race had been moved up by 30 minutes just days before to beat the unseasonable Tokyo heat and humidity. The marathon for the Tokyo 2020 Games was moved to the northern city of Sapporo to escape the heat.

"I really did not expect to win," Jepchirchir said. "It was not my ultimate plan to sprint in the final metres, but when I saw I was 100 metres from the finish, I just started to kick."

That last spurt was a deja vu moment for Assefa, who had been left in the dust by Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan just before the finish line at the Paris Games last year.

"When I took the lead with Peres Jepchirchir I guessed that it would be all about a sprint in the last 100m," Assefa said. "It was the same at the Paris Olympics when I also finished second and lost to Sifan."

Hassan was absent from the race, missing the Championships for the first time in a decade to run in the Sydney marathon last month.

Source: Reuters