Ethiopian Tamirat Tola won the marathon at the World Athletics Championships on Sunday July 17 in Eugene (Oregon) in 2:05:37, ahead of his compatriot Mosinet Geremew and Belgian Bashir Abdi.
Vice-world champion in 2017 in London, Olympic bronze medalist in the 10,000m in 2016 in Rio, this is the first major title for this 30-year-old athlete, won in the absence of the boss of the discipline, the Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge.
With perfect conditions, and on a course that used the training routes of local legend Steve Prefontaine, Tola beat Geremew, already vice-world champion in 2019, by 1’09” and Abdi, the bronze medalist of the Tokyo Games, 1’13”.
After a collective acceleration at the 30th kilometer, the Ethiopian isolated himself with a violent attack at the 33rd kilometer, without ever failing afterwards. Present in the leading group until the 30th kilometer, Hassan Chahdi, the only Frenchman entered, finished 17th in 2h 09 min 21 s.
