When the Paris Olympic marathon course was unveiled two years ago, it was touted as “a challenge without precedent” due to a series of ominously steep hills.
Tamirat Tola was up to the challenge. Named to Ethiopia’s team just two weeks ago as a replacement for Boston Marathon winner Sisay Lemma, the 32-year-old Tola made a bold move over a stretch of brutal hills in the second half to run away from the field and take the gold medal, breaking the Olympic record in the process.
Behind him, silver medalist Belgium’s Bashir Abdi ran onto the podium for the second straight Olympics, while Kenya’s Benson Kipruto took the bronze.
The race began — with 81 starters from 42 countries — at Hôtel de Ville, Paris’s city hall, with bright sun and temperatures at 62F/17C, but soon to climb. The course rolled through and past some of the city’s most iconic landmarks and not long after cutting through the grounds of the Musée du Louvre, the pack hit the 5-K in a cautious 15:40, the runners no doubt wary of the challenges to come.
Read more: Tamirat Tola and Hellen Obiri Conquer TCS New York City Marathon: RRW
Americans Conner Mantz and Clayton Young were near the front of a large group that passed 10-K in 30:59. Italy’s Eyob Faniel then began a solo breakaway that would give him a 23-second lead at 15-K (45:38) right before the race’s biggest hills. Two-time defending gold medalist Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya soon lost contact and appeared in discomfort, later revealing he experienced back pain. He would ultimately drop out after 30-K.
“The hills didn’t affect me at all,” the 39-year-old Kipchoge said. “The pain made me stop.”
Up front, at 20-K Faniel’s lead was down to 11 seconds (1:01:32), with Tola leading the pursuit up the course’s first big hill. He and Mantz caught the Italian by 21-K and the trio plunged downhill through the halfway point in 1:04:51, though Faniel was beginning to fade. (He would finish 43rd, in 2:12:50.)
Eight men were together at the turnaround point at the Palace of Versailles at 23-K: Tola, Abdi, Kipruto, Mantz, Tanzania’s Alphonse Simbu, Japan’s Akira Akasaki, South Africa’s Elroy Gelant, and Ethiopia’s Deresa Geleta. But with the course’s ultra-steep hill from 28 to 29 km approaching, the pace softened just enough to allow the lead pack to grow to 15, including Young.
“I was frustrated to hear another athlete catch up to the pack, but so excited when it was Clayton,” Mantz later wrote on Instagram. “Keep your friends close.”
The decisive move came up that hill where the course rises at a 10.5% grade. Tola, winner of last year’s TCS New York City Marathon and the 2022 World Championships Marathon, surged to a lead he would not surrender. By the time he reached the top at 30-K (1:31:12) his lead was 11 seconds, with Great Britain’s Emile Cairess in second place.
“My intention was just to keep up with the people who were pushing on ahead, but when I caught them I decided to go on alone,” Tola said. “I had difficulties on the hilly section, so I was afraid at that point.”
Tola ripped a 14:02 split over the next 5-K segment, thanks to a sharp downhill, and at 35-K (1:45:14) his lead was up to 18 seconds. With the Eiffel Tower in sight, Geleta, Abdi and Kipruto pulled away from Akasaki, setting up a three-man battle for the last two podium spots.
Read more: Report – Tamirat Tola Runs Away With World Championships Marathon Victory: RRW
Up ahead, Tola periodically looked behind, but showed no signs of slowing. At 40-K (2:00:02) his lead was 22 seconds over Abdi, who began to pull away from Kipruto, while Geleta fell back. Despite the hills, Tola was on Olympic record pace, an incredible feat considering the difficulty of the course.
Tola finally acknowledged the boisterous crowd support with about 200 meters to go, briefly waving his arms in celebration before crossing the finish line at Esplanade des Invalides in 2:06:26. That cut six seconds from the previous Olympic record, set in 2008 by the late Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya (on a much flatter route).
Tola earned his second career Olympic medal after taking the bronze in the 10,000 meters in Rio in 2016.
“I am happy today because I fulfilled my goal. I prepared well. I trained hard so I could win,” said Tola. “In my life, this is my great achievement.”
This marks the fifth time an Ethiopian has won the Olympic marathon, and the first since 2000, when Gezahegne Abera took the gold at the Sydney Games.
Abdi, 35, crossed in 2:06:47, upgrading from the bronze he won three years ago in Sapporo, Japan.
“This is the hardest marathon course I’ve ever run,” he said. “I expected going uphill would be most challenging, but I found going downhill most difficult. It was very steep and you don’t have control of your body. That was very scary, especially after 29-K, we had almost 2-K of running downhill and it was just going more down and down, and I was really afraid of falling.”
Kipruto, who won March’s Tokyo Marathon in 2:02:16 (currently the fastest time in the world this year), took the bronze in 2:07:00.
“The course was tough but I’m happy with the result I posted,” said the 33-year-old Kenyan, who finished on the podium at the Boston and Chicago Marathons in 2022 and 2023, including a Chicago win two years ago. “I trained with the mind first before going to the legs and the heart. Running uphill and downhill was not easy.”
Cairess (2:07:29) moved up from sixth at 40-K to finish fourth, followed by Geleta (2:07:31), Akasaki (2:07:32 PR) and Lesotho’s Tebello Ramakongoana (2:07:58 national record).
Mantz took eighth in 2:08:12, followed by training partner Young (2:08:44), who joyously soaked in the experience over the final stretch and then lingered at the finish line to congratulate the athletes coming in behind him.
“Thank you to everyone who cheered both @_clayton_young_ and I on today (both near and far),” Mantz wrote in his Instagram post. “We’ve both had an insane amount of support from family, friends, and fans during this time.”
Leonard Korir (2:18:45), the third American in the race, was out of contention early and finished 63rd.
Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele, 42, a four-time gold medalist on the track, finished 39th in 2:12:24 in his first Olympic appearance since 2012. The Netherlands’ Abdi Nageeye, silver medalist at the Tokyo Games, and Kipchoge were among 10 competitors who did not finish.
“I don’t know what my future will hold,” said the always thoughtful Kipchoge, who is less than a year removed from his last marathon win, in Berlin last September. “I will think about it over the next three months. I still want to try to run some marathons.”
