Ethiopia’s Tola sets a new Olympic marathon record

Ethiopia's Tamirat Tola claimed gold in the men's marathon at the Paris Olympics on Saturday, while Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge, who was aiming for an unprecedented third consecutive Olympic title, failed to finish the race. Belgium's Bashir Abdi secured silver, improving on his bronze from the Tokyo Games, and Kenya's Benson Kipruto took bronze.

Tola established a strong lead early on and finished the race in two hours, six minutes, and 26 seconds, setting an Olympic record. This achievement was particularly noteworthy given the challenging nature of the course, described by World Athletics as the toughest in any Olympics or championship.

Tola explained that his initial strategy was to stay with the leading pack but eventually decided to push ahead on his own. He admitted facing difficulties on the uphill sections but gained confidence after passing the 41-kilometre mark, realising he had just one kilometre left. Until that point, he was cautious and frequently looked back, uncertain of his lead.

Throughout the race, Tola emerged as the strongest runner from a group of frontrunners, particularly during the first steep ascent of the hilly course. As others began to falter, Tola only seemed to grow stronger, especially on the second hill, which allowed him to extend his lead and secure the gold medal.

"My intention was just to keep up with the people who were going out and then after some point I decided to try to push on my own," Tola said.

Tola had an 18-second lead by the 35km mark, which he extended as the Eiffel Tower came into sight and crowds lining the streets roared him on. He became the first Ethiopian winner of the Olympic men's marathon in 24 years.

Tola's victory was all the more sweet given he was not initially on the team, having been called up after Sisay Lemma withdrew due to a hamstring injury.

Tola, 32, won the New York marathon last year in a course record.

He crossed the finish line cheered on by Haile Gebrselassie, Ethiopia's former double Olympic 10,000m champion, whom he has cited as one of his inspirations to become a marathon runner.

Kipchoge, widely considered the greatest marathon runner of all time, failed to bag a third consecutive gold, defeated by the first ascent of the course that took athletes out to Versailles.

He had been among the frontrunners but that hill broke up the leading pack and proved too much for the 39-year-old, who was participating in his fifth Olympics.