Ethiopian marathon man speeds to impressive victory on the streets of Eugene

When Rob de Castella won the marathon at the inaugural World Championships in Helsinki, the Aussie legend ran 2:10:03. The world No.1 at the time, he was at the height of his powers but in 2022 that time would have placed him only 20^th in Eugene. Improved training methods, not to mention shoe technology, means performances have moved on to another level.

We saw more evidence of this on Sunday (July 17) at the 18^th World Championships as Tamirat Tola stormed to victory in 2:05:37. This came courtesy of a remarkable 10km split of 28:27 from 30-40km – the kind of pace that would have been the stuff of science fiction in 1983 – as he smashed Abel Kirui’s championship record of 2:06:54 from Berlin 2009.

Mosinet Geremew made it an Ethiopian one-two with 2:06:45 as Bashir Abdi of Belgium – a training partner of Mo Farah and the Olympic bronze medallist – was third with 2:06:49.

Such was the quality, Cam Levins ran a Canadian record of 2:07:10 but missed out on the medals in fourth, whereas the top 11 men broke 2:12:00.

The day began at 6am with ordinary runners able to run on part of the course in the ASICS Uplift 5km. As the elite marathoners set off conditions were cool and overcast.

Passing halfway in 68:48, there were still a large number of contenders, including local favourite Galen Rupp of the United States. But after 30km the pack began to splinter as Tola put pressure on his rivals.

When the athletes entered their final 14km lap on this scenic course that passed through, among other places, Springfield, a place known as being home to the Simpsons, Tola was cutting loose with Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya, Abdi, Geremew and Levins in pursuit.

Tola would not be caught, though, as he threw in a 35^th kilometre of 2:43 to continue building his lead.

Rupp, meanwhile, began to fall back and wound up 19^th in 2:09:39, although he was the first American home.

Tola, 30, had won silver in London 2017 behind Geoffrey Kirui and was also Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist in 2016. Crossing the line with seemingly more in his legs, he will doubtless now be a big target for big-city marathon organisers.

Speaking through an interpreter, he said: “It was a dream come true. I ran with the (lead) group until 33km. I decided to up the pace with 10km to go. Myself and my three Ethiopian team-mates spent and trained together for a month. We discussed the strategy on how to win this marathon race.

“I learned from my mistake in 2017 (World Championships), when I sped to the front in a sprint and it cost me the gold. I made sure it did not happen again.”

Behind, Kamworor wound up in fifth place, while defending champion Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia dropped out. The Mongolian marathon legend Ser-Od Bat-Ochir continued his world championships streak (his first was Paris 2003) as he finished 26^th in 2:11:39 at the age of 40.

Another veteran, the British runner Chris Thompson, was unable to compete due to much-publicised visa problems. In his absence the GB flag was flown by Josh Griffiths, but he was not at his best due to recent ankle and quad issues and he placed 49^th in 2:17:37.

“Given the issues that I had, I’m fairly happy with how it went,” he said.