A third and a third place for Sifan Hassan and Abdi Nageeye in London

On the marathon, especially the first place, but that does not mean that a podium place in a prestigious and strong -occupied competition such as the London city marathon is a great performance. Sifan Hassan came third on Sunday at Buckingham Palace and Abdi Nageeye came very close; After a long final sprint, he just finished fourth. He did finish in a new Dutch record: 2.04.20.

After her Olympic title at the Marathon, Sifan Hassan is always one of the favorites when she appears at the start last year in Paris and victories in London and Chicago (both in 2023). In England they prepared for a new game between the Dutch and her rival Tigst Asthiopia, after they had almost pushed each other down in the Paris last summer in the Final of the Olympic Marathon.

But Hassan had to let Assepa go early, just like the Kenyan Joyciline Jepkosgei. Assefa had announced in advance that she felt better than when she ran her world record – the 2.11.53 is now at 2.09.56. The two African women walked away together, a few kilometers before the finish only Asfa remained. She won in a time of 2.15.50. Hassan finished more than three minutes later in 2.19.00.

Nageeye opposite world top

For Nageeye, his debut in sun -drenched London was a chance to see where he stands when the world’s biggest marathon runners participate. Marathon legend Eliud Kipchoge was at the start, just like Jacob Kiplimo from Uganda who recently improved the world record on the half marathon so thunderous that they looked forward to his debut. Could he come close to the time of the accidented Kelvin Kiptum and be the first runner to be the magical 2 -hour magical limit in an official competition?

In practice, Kipchoge, now 40 years old, turned out to no longer have its old top level. After about an hour and a half he had to let the leading group go; He finished sixth. At about the same moment the Kenyan Sabastian Sawe ran away. Half an hour later he crossed the finish line in a time of 2.02.27 – the seventh time ever walked (Sawe himself was already 21 seconds faster).

Then first Kiplimo came in, and after that Nageeye ran tactically strong. He never showed himself at the head of the group in the front of the game, but at the end he still had enough to take on a final sprint with Alexander Mutiso from Kenya.

After the finish, the organization seemed to designate the Dutchman third, but in the end Mutiso turned out to be a fraction faster. Nageeye did improve its own top time and therefore the Dutch record with 25 seconds.

To share

Mail the editors