A marathon finish closer than the men’s 100m final
The phrase, “it’s a marathon, not a sprint”, has become part of common parlance.
But at these World Athletics Championships, the finish to the men’s marathon was a sprint for the ages as Alphonce Simbu of Tanzania crossed the finish line just 0.03 seconds ahead of Germany’s Amanal Petros. By comparison, the men’s 100m final that took place a day earlier ended with a 0.05 difference between the first and second-placed athletes.
Simbu’s victory in front of a roaring crowd at the National Stadium was a sure-fire highlight of Tokyo. His win made him Tanzania’s first-ever gold medallist at a global championships, producing the closest ending to a marathon in competition history.