Majida Maayouf, the best Spanish, finished seventeenth; Meritxell Soler and Esther Navarrete, 25th and 42nd
MADRID, 11 Ago. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan was crowned Olympic marathon champion at the Paris 2024 Games on Sunday, a race she completed with an Olympic record and which gave her her third medal in the French capital, after winning bronze in the 10,000 and 5,000 metre events.
With just a few metres to go, Hassan managed to overtake Ethiopian Tigst Assefa and cross the finish line in 2:22:55, beating the Olympic record set by Ethiopian Tiki Gelana in London 2012 (2:23:07). Meanwhile, Assefa took silver, three seconds behind the winner, and Kenyan Hellen Obiri took bronze, 15 seconds behind.
As for the Spanish participation, Majida Maayouf finished seventeenth, 5:40 behind Hassan and with the best time of the season (2:28:35). Meritxell Soler was twenty-fifth (2:29:56) at 7:01, and Esther Navarrete, forty-second (2:32:07), at 9:12.
On the demanding Olympic course, Bahraini Eunice Chumba was the first reference for the five kilometres (17:24) at the head of a group that gradually increased its pace. Assefa, leader of the world ranking, took the lead at kilometre 10 (34:32), and Maayouf settled among the 20 units at the front.
Just before the start of the uphill section, Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir, the current Olympic champion and world record holder, launched an attack that forced the favourites to react; the Spanish record holder kept up the pace. Australian Jessica Stenson was the first to complete the half marathon (1:13:22) while Maayouf held on surrounded by Ethiopians and Kenyans.
The Chaville ‘wall’, the 500-metre stretch with an average gradient of 12.1% that made the men suffer in Saturday’s race, made a selection among the runners, including the Spaniard, who by kilometre 30 was already 25 seconds behind the leaders.
Kenyans Peres Jepchirchir, Hellen Obiri and Sharon Lokedi, Ethiopians Tigst Assefa and Amane Shankule, Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan, Romanian Delvine Relin Meringor, Japanese Yuka Suzuki and Bahraini Eunice Chumba were the only women in the lead. However, with just ten kilometres to go, the reigning champion was left behind, followed shortly afterwards by Chumba and the Romanian representative.
Another new attack also left the Japanese behind, and everything would be decided between the two Ethiopians, the two Kenyans and Hassan, who already won two bronze medals in the 10,000 and 5,000 metres in Paris. Shankule also fell behind before the finish line on the Esplanade des Invalides, and with one kilometre to go Obiri gave up with only one kilometre to go.
Hassan and Assefa were left alone and everything was decided in the final metres. When the Ethiopian looked like she was going to get away, Hassan launched the final attack to cross the finish line first, with an Olympic record, and close out a historic Paris Games.