Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's marathon

Men's marathon
at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad
Olympic Athletics
VenueSapporo
Date8 August 2021
Competitors106 from 46 nations
Winning time2:08:38
Medalists
1st place, gold medalist(s) Eliud Kipchoge  Kenya
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Abdi Nageeye  Netherlands
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Bashir Abdi  Belgium
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Official Video Highlights

The men's marathon event at the 2020 Summer Olympics started at 07:00 on 8 August 2021 in Sapporo, Japan.[1] 106 athletes from 46 nations competed. The previous Olympic champion, Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, successfully defended his title, with Dutch and Belgian athletes Abdi Nageeye and Bashir Abdi gaining silver and bronze, respectively. Kipchoge was the third man to repeat as Olympic marathon champion, after Abebe Bikila and Waldemar Cierpinski. The Netherlands and Belgium earned their first men's marathon medals since 1980 and 1976, respectively.

The race was moved north, from Tokyo to Sapporo, because the latter is on average 4 °C (7 °F) cooler in August, as decided in 2019 by the IOC.[2][3] Sapporo recorded 26.0 °C (78.8 °F) at 07:00 when the race started, not much different from Tokyo[4] The gifts were presented by David Katz, United States; World Athletics Competition Commission Member.

Summary

[edit]

Before the start of the race, four athletes were introduced and took their positions on the start line, host nation Japanese champion Suguru Osako, Rio bronze medalist Galen Rupp, 2019 World Champion Lelisa Desisa and Rio gold medalist, world record holder Eliud Kipchoge, honored with the applause of his competitors. 102 others then toed the line with them. While some fell off the back from the start, the lead group filled the width of the street. About two kilometres into the race, the first leader, Jeison Suárez, began to assert himself. Suárez stayed on the front for the next 22 kilometres, joined by a succession of other frontrunners; Yang Shaohui, Amanal Petros, Mohamed Reda El Aaraby, Stephen Mokoka and Daniel Ferreira do Nascimento all under the watchful eye of Kipchoge, his Kenyan teammates Lawrence Cherono and Amos Kipruto, Desisa and Rupp.

A pack of over fifty at 5,000 metres dwindled to about twenty by the half way mark as other notable runners fell off the back, with many dropping out. Going in to the 25,000 meter mark, Kipchoge upped the pace. The pack became a string of runners trying to chase, led by the Kenyans and Rupp. At 28,000 metres Kipchoge attempted a break but was caught shortly after. Just after the 30,000 meter mark, he attempted another break, this time staying well ahead of the other competitors, eventually building a 27 second lead over the chase pack that had dwindled to Cherono, Ayad Lamdassem and Bashir Abdi with Abdi Nageeye hanging on a few seconds later. With Cherono at the point over the next 5,000 metres, the remaining foursome congealed into a pack, each trying to figure a tactic to take silver as Kipchoge pulled away into the distance. Coming from 30 seconds back of the group, Osako was rapidly making up ground. With 1,000 metres to go, Cherono tried to make a break, but Nageeye held onto his back. Cherono tried to break again, this time Lamdassem was dropped. Approaching the finish line Nageeye, sensing Cherono was spent, accelerated and waved to Abdi to follow him. Abdi responded, with Nageeye getting silver and Abdi bronze two seconds up on Cherono. Kipchoge won by 1:20, greater than his Rio margin of victory.[5][6]

Very tough weather conditions forced many runners to retire. These included the 2012 champion Stephen Kiprotich and all three Ethiopian runners, among them the current World champion Lelisa Desisa. Only 76 out of 106 athletes finished.[7] The last one was Iván Zarco from Honduras, who was essentially running alone for the whole race and finished 36 minutes behind the winner. Most of the race participants, including Nageeye and Bashir, finished with the season best results, which mainly reflected the lack of competitions due to the COVID-19 limitations.

Kipchoge became the third man to successfully defend the Olympic Marathon title, after Abebe Bikila and Waldemar Cierpinski.[8]

Background

[edit]

This was the 29th appearance of the event, which is one of 12 athletics events to have been held at every Summer Olympics. Five of the top 10 runners from Rio 2016 returned: gold medalist Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, bronze medalist Galen Rupp of the United States, fifth-place finisher Alphonce Simbu of Tanzania, seventh-place finisher Tadesse Abraham of Switzerland, and ninth-place finisher Callum Hawkins of Great Britain.

No nations made their men's marathon debut in Tokyo. The United States made its 28th appearance, most of any nation, having missed only the boycotted 1980 Games.

Qualification

[edit]

Approximately 80 athletes were initially expected to compete (target number of 80) by entry time or ranking; the final number was 110 runners qualified by time, with NOCs universality places yet to enter athletes in addition to the 110 qualifying through time, much more than the expected due to the postponed Games (4 universality places were used in 2016). The qualification period for the entry standard (2:11:30) was from 1 January 2019 to 31 May 2021, with a maximum quota of 3 athletes per National Olympic Committee. Performances achieved between 6 April 2020 and 30 November 2020 were not considered in the qualification system.[9]

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to 3 qualified athletes in the men's marathon if all athletes meet the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period. (The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.) The qualifying standard is 2:11:30. This standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." Runners in the top 10 at the 2019 world championship, the top 5 at any IAAF Gold Label marathon, and the top 10 at the Marathon Major Series were deemed to have met the qualifying standard, regardless of actual time. The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 80 is reached.[9][10] More than 80 athletes (after application of the 3 per NOC rule) have met the qualifying standard.

To be a qualifying performance, the course had to have been certified in the last five years by a Grade A or Grade B road course measurer. In order to be eligible for the qualifying standard time, the elevation decrease could not be more than 1 metre per kilometre. For world rankings, the elevation decrease could exceed that rate, but a correction would be made to the score.[9]

The qualifying period was originally from 1 January 2019 to 31 May 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 31 May 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 January 2019 to 1 December 2018. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period.[9][11] In July 2020, World Athletics announced that the suspension period would be lifted for the road events (marathons and race walks) on 1 September 2020.[12]

NOCs can also use their universality place—each NOC can enter one male athlete regardless of time if they had no male athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the marathon.[9]

Qualification ended on 31 May 2021. Both marathons had a target number of 80 athletes, but a larger number of athletes have fulfilled the qualifying criteria and will compete in Sapporo, the venue of the Olympic road events. In the men's field, 106 athletes have qualified (with a maximum of 3 per nation).

Qualification standard No. of athletes NOC Nominated athletes
Entry standard – 2:11:30 3  Australia Liam Adams
Jack Rayner
Brett Robinson
3  Bahrain Alemu Bekele
Shumi Dechasa
El-Hassan El-Abbassi
3  Belgium Bashir Abdi
Dieter Kersten
Koen Naert
3  Brazil Daniel Chaves da Silva
Daniel Ferreira do Nascimento
Paulo Roberto Paula
3  Canada Trevor Hofbauer
Cameron Levins
Ben Preisner[13]
3  China Dong Guojian
Peng Jianhua
Yang Shaohui[14]
3  Eritrea Yohanes Ghebregergis
Goitom Kifle
Oqbe Kibrom Ruesom
3  Ethiopia Lelisa Desisa
Shura Kitata
Sisay Lemma
3  France Morhad Amdouni
Hassan Chahdi
Nicolas Navarro[15]
3  Germany Amanal Petros
Hendrik Pfeiffer
Richard Ringer
3  Great Britain Ben Connor
Callum Hawkins
Chris Thompson
3  Ireland Paul Pollock
Stephen Scullion
Kevin Seaward
3  Israel Haimro Alame
Girmaw Amare
Marhu Teferi
3  Italy Yassine El Fathaoui
Eyob Faniel
Yassine Rachik
3  Kenya Lawrence Cherono
Eliud Kipchoge
Amos Kipruto
3  Mexico Jesús Arturo Esparza
Juan Pacheco
José Luis Santana
3  Morocco Mohamed Reda El Aaraby
Othmane El Goumri
Hamza Sahli
3  Netherlands Khalid Choukoud
Abdi Nageeye
Bart van Nunen
3  Poland Marcin Chabowski
Arkadiusz Gardzielewski
Adam Nowicki
3  South Africa Elroy Gelant
Desmond Mokgobu
Stephen Mokoka
3  Spain Javier Guerra
Ayad Lamdassem
Daniel Mateo
0  Sweden Ebba Tulu Chala
Mustafa Mohamed
David Nilsson
2  Turkey Yavuz Ağralı
Polat Kemboi Arıkan
Kaan Kigen Özbilen[16]
3  Uganda Felix Chemonges
Stephen Kiprotich
Fred Musobo[17]
3  Ukraine Bohdan-Ivan Horodyskyy
Mykola Nyzhnyk
Oleksandr Sitkovskyy
3  United States Abdi Abdirahman
Jacob Riley
Galen Rupp
2  Argentina Joaquín Arbe
Eulalio Muñoz
2  Austria Peter Herzog
Lemawork Ketema
2  Colombia Iván Darío González
Jeison Suárez
2  Denmark Thijs Nijhuis
Abdi Hakin Ulad
2  Estonia Roman Fosti
Tiidrek Nurme
2  Japan Shogo Nakamura[18]
Suguru Osako[19]
2  Mongolia Tseveenravdangiin Byambajav
Bat-Ochiryn Ser-Od
2  New Zealand Malcolm Hicks
Zane Robertson
2  South Korea Oh Joo-han
Shim Jung-sub
2  Rwanda John Hakizimana
Félicien Muhitira
2  Tanzania Gabriel Geay
Alphonce Simbu
1  Burundi Olivier Irabaruta
1  Lesotho Khoarahlane Seutloali
1  Namibia Tomas Hilifa Rainhold
1  North Korea Ri Kang-bom
1  Norway Sondre Nordstad Moen
1  Panama Jorge Castelblanco
1  Paraguay Derlis Ayala
1  Peru Cristhian Pacheco
1  Refugee Olympic Team Tachlowini Gabriyesos
1  Switzerland Tadesse Abraham
Finishing position at designated competitions 1  Japan Yuma Hattori
World ranking 0
Universality Places 1  Honduras Iván Zarco
Total 106

Competition format and course

[edit]

As all Olympic marathons, the competition was a single race. The marathon distance of 42.195 km was run over a course that starts with two laps around Odori Park. The route then includes a large loop (about half the marathon's length) through the streets of Sapporo, passing by Nakajima Park, Sapporo TV Tower, and Hokkaido University, and crossing the Toyohira River twice. The course then takes two trips around a smaller (approximately 10 kilometres) section of the large loop. The finish line is back at Odori Park.[20]

Records

[edit]

Prior to this competition, the existing world, Olympic, and area records were as follows.

World record  Eliud Kipchoge (KEN) 2:01:39 Berlin, Germany 16 September 2018
Olympic record  Samuel Wanjiru (KEN) 2:06:32 Beijing, China 24 August 2008
Area Time Athlete Nation
Africa (records) 2:01:39 WR Eliud Kipchoge  Kenya
Asia (records) 2:04:43 El-Hassan El-Abbassi  Bahrain
Europe (records) 2:04:16 Kaan Kigen Özbilen  Turkey
North, Central America
and Caribbean
(records)
2:05:38 Khalid Khannouchi  United States
Oceania (records) 2:07:51* Robert de Castella  Australia
South America (records) 2:06:05 Ronaldo da Costa  Brazil

* — Boston Marathon, aided road course per IAAF rule 260.28

No new records were established during the competition.

Schedule

[edit]

All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

The men's marathon took place on a single day.[1]

Date Time Round
Sunday, 8 August 2021 7:00 Final

Results

[edit]
Rank Athlete Nation Time Time Behind Notes
1st place, gold medalist(s) Eliud Kipchoge  Kenya 2:08:38
2nd place, silver medalist(s) Abdi Nageeye  Netherlands 2:09:58 +1:20 SB
3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Bashir Abdi  Belgium 2:10:00 +1:22 SB
4 Lawrence Cherono  Kenya 2:10:02 +1:24 SB
5 Ayad Lamdassem  Spain 2:10:16 +1:38 SB
6 Suguru Osako  Japan 2:10:41 +2:03 SB
7 Alphonce Simbu  Tanzania 2:11:35 +2:57 SB
8 Galen Rupp  United States 2:11:41 +3:03 SB
9 Othmane El Goumri  Morocco 2:11:58 +3:20
10 Koen Naert  Belgium 2:12:13 +3:35 SB
11 Mohamed Reda El Aaraby  Morocco 2:12:22 +3:44
12 Nicolas Navarro  France 2:12:50 +4:12 SB
13 Marhu Teferi  Israel 2:13:02 +4:24
14 Goitom Kifle  Eritrea 2:13:22 +4:44
15 Jeison Suárez  Colombia 2:13:29 +4:51
16 Tachlowini Gabriyesos  Refugee Olympic Team 2:14:02 +5:24
17 Morhad Amdouni  France 2:14:33 +5:55 SB
18 Hamza Sahli  Morocco 2:14:48 +6:10 SB
19 Yang Shaohui  China 2:14:58 +6:20
20 Eyob Faniel  Italy 2:15:11 +6:33 SB
21 Daniel Mateo  Spain 2:15:21 +6:43 SB
22 Yohanes Ghebregergis  Eritrea 2:15:34 +6:56
23 Abdi Hakin Ulad  Denmark 2:15:50 +7:12 SB
24 Liam Adams  Australia 2:15:51 +7:13 SB
25 Richard Ringer  Germany 2:16:08 +7:30
26 Tiidrek Nurme  Estonia 2:16:16 +7:38 SB
27 Girmaw Amare  Israel 2:16:17 +7:39
28 Jacob Riley  United States 2:16:26 +7:48 SB
29 Amanal Petros  Germany 2:16:33 +7:55 SB
30 Eulalio Muñoz  Argentina 2:16:35 +7:57 SB
31 Peng Jianhua  China 2:16:39 +8:01
32 Javier Guerra  Spain 2:16:42 +8:04 SB
33 Elroy Gelant  South Africa 2:16:43 +8:05
34 Oqbe Kibrom Ruesom  Eritrea 2:16:57 +8:19 SB
35 Zane Robertson  New Zealand 2:17:04 +8:26 SB
36 Haimro Alame  Israel 2:17:17 +8:39
37 Adam Nowicki  Poland 2:17:19 +8:41
38 Olivier Irabaruta  Burundi 2:17:44 +9:06 SB
39 Sondre Nordstad Moen  Norway 2:17:59 +9:21 SB
40 Abdihakem Abdirahman  United States 2:18:27 +9:49 SB
41 Tomas Hilifa Rainhold  Namibia 2:18:28 +9:50
42 Derlis Ayala  Paraguay 2:18:34 +9:56 SB
43 Fred Musobo  Uganda 2:18:39 +10:01
44 Hassan Chahdi  France 2:18:40 +10:02 SB
45 Ben Preisner  Canada 2:19:27 +10:49 SB
46 Yassine El Fathaoui  Italy 2:19:44 +11:06 SB
47 Trevor Hofbauer  Canada 2:19:57 +11:19 SB
48 Shim Jung-sub  South Korea 2:20:36 +11:58
49 Hendrik Pfeiffer  Germany 2:20:43 +12:05 SB
50 Felix Chemonges  Uganda 2:20:53 +12:15
51 Yavuz Ağralı  Turkey 2:21:00 +12:22
52 Joaquín Arbe  Argentina 2:21:15 +12:37 SB
53 Chris Thompson  Great Britain 2:21:29 +12:51
54 Tseveenravdangiin Byambajav  Mongolia 2:21:32 +12:54 SB
55 José Luis Santana  Mexico 2:21:32 +12:54 SB
56 Dong Guojian  China 2:21:35 +12:57
57 Kevin Seaward  Ireland 2:21:45 +13:07 SB
58 Dieter Kersten  Belgium 2:22:06 +13:28
59 Cristhian Pacheco  Peru 2:22:12 +13:34 SB
60 Peter Herzog  Austria 2:22:15 +13:37 SB
61 Shogo Nakamura  Japan 2:22:23 +13:45 SB
62 Arkadiusz Gardzielewski  Poland 2:22:50 +14:12
63 Malcolm Hicks  New Zealand 2:23:12 +14:34 SB
64 Juan Pacheco  Mexico 2:23:41 +15:03 SB
65 Brett Robinson  Australia 2:24:04 +15:26 SB
66 Khoarahlane Seutloali  Lesotho 2:25:03 +16:25 SB
67 Roman Fosti  Estonia 2:25:37 +16:59
68 Paulo Roberto Paula  Brazil 2:26:08 +17:30 SB
69 Thijs Nijhuis  Denmark 2:26:59 +18:21 SB
70 Paul Pollock  Ireland 2:27:48 +19:10 SB
71 Cameron Levins  Canada 2:28:43 +20:05
72 Yuma Hattori  Japan 2:30:08 +21:30 SB
73 Jesús Arturo Esparza  Mexico 2:31:51 +23:13 SB
74 Jorge Castelblanco  Panama 2:33:22 +24:44 SB
75 Iván Zarco  Honduras 2:44:36 +35:58 SB
Amos Kipruto  Kenya 35 km DNF
Bart van Nunen  Netherlands 35 km DNF
Stephen Mokoka  South Africa 30 km DNF
Lelisa Desisa  Ethiopia 30 km DNF
John Hakizimana  Rwanda 30 km DNF
Khalid Choukoud  Netherlands 30 km DNF
Marcin Chabowski  Poland 30 km DNF
Ben Connor  Great Britain 30 km DNF
Desmond Mokgobu  South Africa 30 km DNF
Bat-Ochiryn Ser-Od  Mongolia 30 km DNF
Daniel Ferreira do Nascimento  Brazil 25 km DNF
Tadesse Abraham  Switzerland 25 km DNF
Yassine Rachik  Italy 25 km DNF
Callum Hawkins  Great Britain 25 km DNF
Bohdan-Ivan Horodyskyy  Ukraine 25 km DNF
Polat Kemboi Arıkan  Turkey 25 km DNF
Iván Darío González  Colombia 25 km DNF
Sisay Lemma  Ethiopia Half DNF
Shumi Dechasa  Bahrain Half DNF
Mykola Nyzhnyk  Ukraine 20 km DNF
Lemawork Ketema  Austria 15 km DNF
Stephen Scullion  Ireland 15 km DNF
Oh Joo-han  South Korea 10 km DNF
Alemu Bekele  Bahrain 10 km DNF
Stephen Kiprotich  Uganda 10 km DNF
Gabriel Geay  Tanzania 10 km DNF
Daniel Chaves da Silva  Brazil 10 km DNF
Oleksandr Sitkovskyy  Ukraine 10 km DNF
Shura Kitata  Ethiopia 5 km DNF
Jack Rayner  Australia 5 km DNF
El-Hassan El-Abbassi  Bahrain DQ

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Athletics Competition Schedule". Tokyo 2020. 23 April 2018. Archived from the original on 5 August 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
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  7. ^ In the men's marathon, the competition venue was changed to Sapporo to avoid the heat and humidity of central Tokyo in the summer. Nevertheless, on the day of the race, 30 athletes, less than 30% of the participating athletes, broke down on the way due to poor physical condition and pulled out of the race. This is much higher than the percentage of abstainers in the same race at the last Rio Olympics (about 10%). "What led to nearly 30% of runners pulling out of Tokyo Olympic men's marathon?". The Mainichi. 10 August 2021. Archived from the original on 18 August 2021. Retrieved 26 August 2021.
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  11. ^ "Olympic qualification period suspended until 1 December 2020". World Athletics. 6 April 2020. Archived from the original on 9 April 2020. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  12. ^ "Olympic qualifying system to recommence for road athletes from September 2020". 28 July 2020. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 28 November 2020.
  13. ^ "Athletes named to Canada's Tokyo Olympic team". CBC. 4 June 2021. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
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  20. ^ "The New Olympic Marathon Course Has Been Unveiled". Runners World. 19 December 2019. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 30 August 2020.