Hassan wins marathon gold in Olympics record, Obiri third
Sifan Hassan of Netherlands celebrates after winning gold in the women's marathon in Paris on August 11, 2024.
What you need to know:
- Assefa, three seconds behind her, took silver and Kenya's Hellen Obiri claimed the bronze in 2:23:10.
Kenya’s Hellen Obiri won bronze in the women's marathon at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
The Netherland’s Sifan Hassan bagged gold in a sprint finish with an Olympic record time of two hours, 22 minutes and 55 seconds, breaking Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa record time of 2:23:07.
Assefa timed 2:22:58 for silver as Obiri came home in personal best time of 2:23:10.
Kenya's Sharon Lokedi missed the podium positions narrowly after finishing fourth in 2:23:14, a personal best, while defending champion Peres Jepchirchir was a distant 15th clocking 2:26:51.
Sharon Lokedi of Kenya, Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia, Hellen Obiri of Kenya and Amane Beriso Shankule of Ethiopia in action in the Women's Marathon in Paris, France - August 11, 2024.
Ethiopians Amane Beriso and Tigst Assefa, Kenyans Hellen Obiri and Sharon Lokedi, and Dutch’s Sifan Hassan crossed the 40km mark still stuck together.
In the last 1km, Lokedi couldn’t handle the pace and was dropped leaving Obiri to chase the two athletes as they sprinted to the finish.
Jepchirchir started the race on a high note before she was dropped at the 33km mark when the pace went a notch higher leaving the two Kenyans to battle it out in a race that saw 43 nations represented.
It was Obiri's fourth Olympic Games after bagging a silver medal at the 2016 Rio Games before winning another silver at the 2020 Tokyo Games in the 5,000m.
