Host nation win men’s marathon title in dramatic fashion, while Poland’s Aleksandra Lisowska becomes the first athletics champion in Munich

The idea of having a marathon double bill in the middle of a Monday during a heatwave seemed about as logical as oven-ready ice cream but there was no disputing that the schedule served up two of the most exciting races in European Championships history.

The finishing times will mean that few of the participants will be high up any Major Marathon race directors’ future wish-lists, but the action made for brilliant viewing on the opening day of athletics competition at these championships in Munich (August 15).

Over 50 athletes made a formal complaint about the starting times but the organisers refused to budge and combined with the fact that this was a public holiday in Bavaria, the timings did mean there were large crowds out on the streets to cheer on the athletes.

Both women’s and men’s marathons showed Munich off perfectly on an interesting four-lap city centre course that took in many of the sights, as well as the famous English Garden.

The finish on the straight and dramatic Odeonsplatz certainly avoided any possibility of a repeat of the incident in the Olympic marathon of 50 years ago, where an interloper avoided security to enter the Olympiastadion first and take away from Frank Shorter’s gold medal moment.

This time, much to the delight of the German crowd, it was a dramatic sprint finish that saw home favourite Richard Ringer only take the lead in the closing strides to land victory in a time of 2:10:21.

For much of the closing stages Maru Teferi looked to have made the late, decisive move but the Israeli ran out of energy and the German utilised his huge stride to fly past and win by only two seconds, though Leonid Moseyev’s  victory of 1.5 seconds in 1978 remains the closest ever European Championships winning margin. Teferi’s team-mate Gashau Ayale was third with 2:10:29.

Ringer, who has run 3:38.83 for 1500m and was the 5000m bronze medallist in 2016, has been better known for his 27:36.52 in winning the Night of the 10,000m PBs at Highgate in 2018. His best marathon time is 2:08:49, run in Ampugnanao where he finished an anonymous 17th, while he was 26th in the Olympic marathon last year and had not competed over 26.2 miles since.

The joy of taking gold was very evident as he celebrated by dancing the with the Championships mascot. There was another medal to savour, too, as Germany (6:35:52) took the team silver behind Israel (6:31:48), with Spain (6:38:44) winning bronze.

“Although this is an individual event, the great motivation was the team because the chances were good to get a medal and the team spirit helped at 35km and 37km with all the pain you feel,” said Ringer after a race in which the 10km splits were a fairly even 30:40, 31:05, 31:00 and 31:03, while he covered the last 2195m in 6:33.

“I started as a 5km runner and that’s why I finished strong and the heat was not a problem. The people around me gave me wings and the spectators were like third legs and helped with all their cheering.”

It was Teferi’s third marathon of the year and came less than a month after he had finished a fine 11th at the World Championships event in Eugene in 2:07:59, which followed his 2:06:58 in Seville in February.

It was perhaps little wonder, then, that the fatigue kicked in during his closing 400m as Israel missed out on their first ever marathon victory, exactly 50 years after the infamous attack on their athletes at the Olympics.

Great Britain finished a respectable sixth in the team standings with 6:51:14 and they were led home by Phil Sesemann (2:15:17) in 17th. Mo Aadan was 30th (2:17:34), Andrew Davies 35th (2:18:23) and Andrew Heyes 44th (2:19:47) as Luke Caldwell was one of 17 drop outs from the 79 starters.

Pre-race favourite Ayad Lamdassm was sixth, defending champion Koen Naert eighth and former champion Daniele Meucci 13th.

In the women’s race, Aleksandra Lisowska became the first athletics gold medallist of these championships as she won impressively in a time of 2:28:36.

The 31-year-old Pole was considered by many as an outside bet, having only finished 35th in the Olympics and having just a 73:09 half-marathon to her name on the roads in 2022.

She did set a Polish record of 2:26:08 over the distance, however, and after a fairly steady pace throughout (10km splits of 35:24, 35:14, 35:23 and 35:17 – though the last is slightly misleading with a 18:05 5km and then 17:12), Lisowska ran a strong last few miles to hold off a late challenge from Mateo Parlov Kostro.

The Croat was closing in the last 400 metres but fell short by just six seconds and as she crossed the line the Pole produced a beaming and relieved smile.

“Wow, this is an incredible result,” said Lisowska. “I did not believe it could happen but I knew after the Polish record last year I had a chance and during the race I felt I was in total control. I enjoyed the great atmosphere and I always felt I had another kick, even when the Croatian was closing.”

Parlov Kostro finished in 2:28:42, with Nienke Brinkman just getting the better of home athlete Miriam Dattke after both were timed at 2:28:52. The 30-year-old Kostro had an amazing race, having finished 21st in the Olympics last year and then third in Hannover in April in 2:28:39, so she missed her PB here by just three seconds.

Brinkman, who topped the rankings of those competing with a 2:22:51 Dutch record at Rotterdam, was many pundits’ favourite for the title.

Fionnuala McCormack of Ireland ran well but was very disappointed with her seventh place in 2:29:25.

Alice Wright was the leading Briton in 22nd in 2:35:33 after a brave first half where she traded punches with the leading group and was the official leader at 5km (18:03) and 15km (53:14). Naomi Mitchell was 25th in 2:36:44 with Becky Briggs 31st in 2:39:02 and Rosie Edwards 35th in 2:40:47.

Britain finished sixth in the team competition in 7:51:19 as Germany (7:28:48), Spain (7:39:25) and Poland (7:40:54) took the major honours.