Hellen Obriri crossing the Paris 2024 Olympics marathon finish line on Sunday . photo Nock
Olympics marathon debutant Hellen Obiri won bronze at the final event of the Paris 2024 Olympics Games on Sunday (11).
Obiri a two-time Olympics silver medallist in the 5,000m, clocked a personal best of two hours, 23 minutes and 10 seconds (2:23.10), as Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan claimed the final athletics gold medal in an Olympic record of 2:22:55 to complete an impressive medal treble.
The Dutch 31-year-old, who had already bagged 5000m and 10,000m bronze medals in Paris, held off Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa in a sprint finish. Assefa secured a silver in 2:22:58.
Despite the challenging course and warm conditions, three of the top six athletes set PBs and both Hassan and Assefa finished inside the previous Olympic record of 2:23:07 set by Tiki Gelana in 2012.
After 42km around the roads of the French capital, the race came down to a thrilling conclusion. Just 37 hours after getting bronze in the 10,000m, and six days after her first medal of the Paris Games – also bronze – in the 5000m, Hassan stormed to the marathon title.
After Hassan, Assefa and Obiri dropped Kenya’s Sharon Lokedi in the closing stages, the medal winners seemed decided but Hassan was determined to make her last one the best one.
In a battle between two sub-2-minute 800m runners, the finish was frantic and Hassan had the edge, overpowering Assefa on approach to the finish line to win by three seconds – the closest ever winning margin in a women’s Olympic marathon.
Obiri held on for bronze, finishing four seconds ahead of her compatriot Lokedi, whose 2:23:14 for fourth was also a PB. Ethiopia’s Amane Beriso was fifth in 2:23:57 and Japan’s Yuka Suzuki sixth in a PB of 2:24:02.
Hassan now has a total of six Olympic medals, her latest medal treble adding to the 5000m and 10,000m gold plus 1500m bronze she claimed at the Tokyo Games.
Her CV also includes six world medals, from 1500m to 10,000m.
And her range doesn’t end there, as she had contested the 800m on the Olympic stage in Rio in 2016, where the entries also included Assefa.
Going head-to-head in an event almost 53 times longer, Assefa and Hassan were always in contention. They were part of the large leading group that reached 10km in 34:32, with Hassan further back in the pack a few seconds behind.
Melody Julien of France had decided to push on at the front but around 12km into the race Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir, the defending champion, chased her down, grabbing a bottle of water and some ice on her way. Obiri led the following pack along with Assefa and by 13km the group was back together.
The 15km mark was reached by the 14-strong pack in 51:12 as they approached the hill, and the lead group had grown to 20 as halfway was hit in 1:13:22.
The main contenders forged ahead and as they reached the hardest part of the course – a huge incline at 29km – Beriso, Assefa and Lokedi were pushing on at the front, while Hassan dropped back.
Sharon Lokedi helping Hellen Obiri to stand at the marathon finishing line . photo Nock
But Hassan gradually closed the gap and was at the back of the leading group at 30km, reached by Lokedi, Assefa, Beriso and Jepchirchir in 1:43:59, with Obiri and Hassan just behind them along with Romania’s Delvine Relin Meringor, Bahrain’s Eunice Chebichii Chumba and Suzuki.
Jepchirchir dropped back at around 33km and the group was down to five as they passed the Eiffel Tower – Lokedi, Assefa, Beriso, Obiri and Hassan all locked in battle. They reached the 40km mark in 2:16:09 and Beriso was the next to be dropped with a couple of kilometres to go.
The fight for three medals was between four athletes and Obiri, a two-time world 5000m champion, spearheaded the challenge with one kilometre remaining. Obiri, Assefa and Hassan then left Lokedi behind and Obiri couldn’t manage the fast-closing pace as Assefa and Hassan sprinted for the finish.
Hassan never stopped glancing over her shoulder but Assefa, the marathon world record-holder, couldn’t keep up and watched as Hassan crossed the finish line in record time, raising her arms in celebration.
“When I finished, the whole moment was a release. It is unbelievable. I have never experienced anything like that. Even the other marathons I have run were not close to this,” said Hassan, who won on her marathon debut in London in April 2023, clocking 2:18:33, and improved to 2:13:44 to win in Chicago in the October.
“I have no words. Every moment in the race I was regretting that I ran the 5000m and 10,000m. I was telling myself if I hadn’t done that, I would feel great today.
“The moment I started to feel good at 20km, I knew I wanted gold. But everybody else was fresh and all I was thinking was: ‘When are they going to break? They’re going to go hard.’”
But Hassan went hardest and was rewarded with the final athletics title of the Paris Games.
“At the end I thought: ‘This is just a 100m sprint,'” she added. “‘Come on, Sifan. One more. Just feel it, like someone who sprints 200m.’”
material sourced from worldathletics.org
