NAIROBI, Kenya, August 11 – Kenya’s Hellen Obiri bagged bronze after finishing third in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics on Sunday morning.
The New York Marathon champion clocked 2:23:10 in third, as Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan crossed the finish line first in 2:22:55 — the third medal of her Paris Olympics campaign.
World record holder Tigast Assefa of Ethiopia took silver after clocking 2:22:58.
The 2022 New York Marathon champion Sharon Lokedi clocked 2:23:14 in fourth as immediate former Olympics defending champion Peres Jepchirchir finished 15th in 2:26:51.
It was a race that put to test the athletes’ tactical and physical acumen with the difference between the contenders and also-rans only becoming clear at the 30km mark.
Jepchirchir, who had been part of the leading pack for the majority of the race, seemed to whittle away at that point.
Hassan, who seemed to have until that point been struggling to keep up with the leading pack, resuscitated her hopes to catch up with the leading pack at the 37km mark.
It was the same case for Obiri, who had at one point seemed to be losing steam, but found her way to the leading pack that included Assefa, Lokedi and world champion Beriso Shankule.
Shankule soon withered away as the race metamorphosed into a four-way battle consisting of Obiri, Hassan, Lokedi and Assefa.
With a kilometre to the end, Lokedi seemed to have thrown in the towel as Obiri and Assefa took the initiative.
However, with the finish line in sight, Hassan pulled her cards from below the table, unleashing her characteristic last kick to surge to the front of the pack.
With Obiri having exhausted what she had in the tank, it was down to a two-way battle between Assefa and Hassan — the world record holder helpless to keep up with the Dutchwoman’s blistering speed towards the finish line.
Obiri held on to clinch bronze and add to the two silver medals won on track in the women’s 5000m at the Rio and Tokyo Olympics in 2016 and 2021 respectively.
