By Mitch Phillips
EUGENE, Ore. (Reuters) – Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola won the men’s marathon at the World Athletics Championships in dominant fashion on Sunday, forging powerfully clear around 34km to come home solo to take gold in a championship record two hours, 05.37 minutes.
Taking advantage of relatively cool conditions afforded by the 6.15 am local start time, 2017 silver medallist Tola splintered the pack from around the 32km mark with a sustained acceleration and by 39km he was safely 46 seconds clear and continued to press all the way home.
Over a minute back, Mosinet Geremew made it an Ethiopian 1-2 with a second successive silver while Belgium’s Somalia-born Bashir Abdi matched his bronze from the Tokyo Olympics.
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
