Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola broke away from the leading group after the 28-kilometer mark and cruised to a 21-second victory in Saturday’s Paris Olympics men’s marathon.
A 10,000-meter bronze medalist in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, the 32-year-old struck gold in his Olympic marathon debut, finishing in an Olympic record of 2 hours, 6 minutes, 26 seconds.
“I’m happy because I fulfilled my goal. I trained hard,” said Tola, who won the 2022 athletics world championships marathon but only raced in Paris after being called up to replace an injured teammate.
Tokyo Olympic bronze medalist Bashir Abdi of Belgium was second, with Kenya’s Benson Kipruto third. Japan’s Akira Akasaki, who was setting the pace in the leading group before Tola made his break, was sixth in a personal best 2:07:32.
“This was the most fun I’ve ever had,” said Akasaki, who was running in his first Olympics. “More than my personal best, I’m happier to have finished in the top eight. On this up-and-down course, running under 2 hours, 8 minutes was amazingly good.”
According to the local organizers, the marathon course followed the route of the historic 1789 Women’s March on Versailles during the French Revolution, when commoners marched from to the palace of Versailles to bring King Louis XVI back to Paris.
BY: The Times Union
