Showing posts with label Alphonce Felix Simbu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alphonce Felix Simbu. Show all posts
Wednesday, 17 September 2025
Monday, 15 September 2025
CLOSEST FINISH IN WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP MARATHON HISTORY AS ALPHONCE SIMBU SNATHES GOLD IN TOKYO
Brutal conditions and a race of pure attrition gave way to a dramatic sprint finish in the final meters between Simbu and Germany's Amanal Petros.
The men’s marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo produced one of the most dramatic finishes in history, with Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbu winning gold in a photo finish after a furious sprint to the line.
Both Simbu and Germany’s Amanal Petros were officially credited with the same finishing time of 2:09:48, with Simbu edging ahead by the smallest of margins after a desperate lean in the final meters on the track inside Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium. Italy’s Iliass Aouani completed the podium, taking bronze in 2:09:53.
Brutal Conditions Test the Field
Like the women’s race the previous day, the men’s marathon started at 7:30 a.m. local time under punishing conditions. Temperatures were already 26°C (79°F) at the start, with high humidity and full sun making for a grueling challenge over the 42.195-kilometer course.
For much of the race, a large lead pack of up to 36 runners set a steady pace, with championship racing tactics taking precedence over any time goals. But the race began to fracture on the hilly section near the 37-kilometer mark, where the relentless conditions and surging pace created a war of attrition.
Down to Five, Then Three
The lead group began dispatching of many of the pre-race favorites, with the entire Ethiopian team eventually dropping out, and the Kenyans fading badly in the second half.
The lead pack gradually whittled down to just five athletes as the race approached the final stages, before narrowing to just three men entering the stadium for the final lap on the track: Simbu, Petros, and Aouani.
Petros, the former German record holder, appeared poised for victory as he surged ahead entering the home straight, opening a small gap on Simbu. Aouani, a few steps behind, was fading slightly but still in medal position.
A Finish for the Ages
With less than 10 meters to go, Simbu produced a remarkable final burst of speed, drawing level with Petros just as the pair crossed the line together. Petros fell dramatically to the track in exhaustion, while Simbu, leaning hard at the tape, was awarded the victory after a tense photo finish review.
Both athletes were credited with the same time, 2:09:48, the closest finish ever recorded in a World Championship marathon. Aouani secured bronze in 2:09:53, five seconds off the lead.
The race marked a career-defining moment for Simbu, who had previously earned bronze at the 2017 World Championships but had never before taken gold at a major global event.
In all, 22 of the 90 runners DNFed, with two not starting the race, making the attrition rate 25%.
Results of men's marathon
- Michael Doyle
Tuesday, 22 April 2025
LOKEDI BREAKS BOSTON MARATHON COURSE RECORD, KORIR TAKES MEN'S RACE
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| Maddie Meyer//Getty Images |
BOSTON — A rider dressed as Paul Revere eased his horse up to the Boston Marathon finish line and proclaimed, “The runners are coming.”
And down Boylston Street they came.
In record time. With a historic family first. And even “The Star-Spangled Banner” got some air time as the race and the region commemorated the 250th anniversary of the first shots fired in the American Revolution.
Sharon Lokedi of Kenya broke the Boston Marathon course record by more than 2 1/2 minutes on Monday, outkicking two-time defending champion Hellen Obiri a year after losing to her in one of the closest finishes in race history.
Fellow Kenyan John Korir recovered from a starting line fallto join his brother as a race champion — the first relatives to win the world’s oldest and most prestigious annual marathon in a history that dates to 1897.
On a day that also marked the 50th anniversary of Bob Hall’s pioneering wheelchair race, Marcel Hug of Switzerland claimed his eighth victory and Susannah Scaroni of the United States took the women’s title.
“I always feel emotional when the national anthem is played,” said Scaroni, who won in 2023 but couldn’t defend her title last year because of an injury. “And to have ours played on this amazing, historic anniversary gives me goosebumps.”
Lokedi finished in 2 hours, 17 minutes, 22 seconds to claim the $150,000 first prize and another $50,000 bonus for breaking the course record of 2:19:59 set by Buzunesh Deba in 2014. A year after sprinting to an 8 second victory, Obiri was 19 seconds back in her attempt to become the first woman to win three straight since Fatuma Roba in 1999.
“Where she passed me last year, I passed her this year,” Lokedi said with a laugh. “I didn’t even believe. I kept looking back and thinking, ‘Where is she?’ I’m just so grateful to her for pushing me all the way through.”
Six months after winning on Chicago’s flatter course, Korir finished in 2:04:45 — the second-fastest winning time in Boston history as the runners took advantage of perfect marathon weather to conquer the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston’s Copley Square.
And he did it despite getting tripped up from behind near the start and falling. He got up to rejoin the lead pack at the rear.
“What came to my mind was should I stay down, or should I (get) up and go?” he said. “Something told me to (get) up and go, and that everything will be OK. … And everything went away.”
Korir’s race bib fell off and he tucked it into his running tights, pulling it out as he sprinted to the finish line. Waiting to congratulate him: 2012 Boston winner Wesley Korir, his older brother.
Although the race has been won by a pair of unrelated John Kelleys and two different Robert Cheruiyots, the Korirs are the first brothers to have won.
“He explained to be tough and believe in yourself,” said John Korir, who finished fourth and ninth in his two previous Boston attempts. “So I believed in myself and I followed his advice.”
Conner Mantz of Provo, Utah, finished fourth after losing a three-way sprint to the finish with Alphonce Felix Simbu of Tanzania, who finished second, and Cybrian Kotut of Kenya, who was third.
Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia was third in the women’s race. Jess McClain of Phoenix was the top American, in seventh place; 2018 winner Des Linden, who had announced she would retire from competitive running, won the masters division and was 17th overall.
When she crossed the finish line, the other American women bowed to her in tribute.
A field of 30,000 left Hopkinton on Monday morning for Boston’s Back Bay, where riders in Revolutionary War garb — accompanied by a fife and drum playing “Yankee Doodle” — rode down Boylston Street in a reenactment of Paul Revere’s ride.
The ceremony came to a temporary halt when the horse was spooked by the finish line decal on the street and pulled up. The actor portraying the colonial silversmith and patriot had to hop off and walk the last few steps himself as the small early crowd laughed and clapped.
- Jimmy Golen, Associated Press
Sunday, 31 July 2022
Tuesday, 13 January 2015
RACING KINGS: A TANZANIAN HAS WON IN BRAZIL
Tanzania has made its mark in Brazil after winning a track & field race.
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