Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's marathon

The women's marathon event at the 2020 Summer Olympics started at 06:00 on 7 August 2021 in Sapporo. Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya won gold in 2:27:20 followed by world record holder and Kenyan teammate Brigid Kosgei with silver, and American Molly Seidel winning the bronze medal in her third-ever marathon.

The race was moved north, from Tokyo to Sapporo because the latter is on average cooler in August, as decided in 2019 by the IOC. The start had been moved an hour earlier to 06:00 for the same reason. The two cities turned out to have almost the same temperature, as Sapporo recorded at 06:00 when the race started and at 08:30.

The gifts for the competition were presented by Sebastian Coe, United Kingdom; World Athletics President.

Background This was the 10th appearance of the event, having appeared at every Olympics since 1984.

Qualification

This was the 10th appearance of the event, having appeared at every Olympics since 1984. Eighty-eight athletes competed.

A National Olympic Committee (NOC) could enter up to three athletes in the women's marathon if all athletes met the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period (the qualification period for "Entry Standard" (2:29:30) was from 1 January 2019 to 31 May 2021, with a maximum quota per NOC of 3.). The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress.

The standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." Runners in the top 10 at the 2019 world championship, the top 5 at any IAAF Gold Label marathon, and the top 10 at the Marathon Major Series were deemed to have met the qualifying standard, regardless of actual time. The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 80 is reached. More than 80 athletes (after application of the 3 per NOC rule) have met the qualifying standard.

To be a qualifying performance, the course had to have been certified in the last five years by a Grade A or Grade B road course measurer. In order to be eligible for the qualifying standard time, the elevation decrease could not be more than 1 metre per kilometre. For world rankings, the elevation decrease could exceed that rate, but a correction would be made to the score.

The qualifying period was originally from 1 January 2019 to 31 May 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 31 May 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 January 2019 to 1 December 2018. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the IAAF. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period. In July 2020, World Athletics announced that the suspension period would be lifted for the road events (marathons and race walks) on 1 September 2020.

NOCs can also use their universality place—each NOC can enter one female athlete regardless of time if they had no female athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the marathon.

Women's Marathon The 2016 Olympics champion Kenyan Jemima Sumgong did not defend her title due to a doping suspension. Qualification standardNo. of athletes NOC Nominated athletesEntry standard – 2:29:303 Sinead DiverEllie PashleyLisa Jane Weightman2 Eunice ChumbaTejitu Daba3 Malindi ElmoreDayna PidhoreskyNatasha Wodak3 Bai LiLi ZhixuanZhang Deshun3 Tereza HrochováMarcela JoglováEva Vrabcová-Nývltová3 Roza DerejeBirhane DibabaZeineba Yimer3 Melat Yisak KejetaDeborah SchönebornKatharina Steinruck3 Stephanie DavisJess PiaseckiStephanie Twell3 Mao IchiyamaHonami MaedaAyuko Suzuki3 Ruth Chepng'etichPeres JepchirchirBrigid Kosgei3 Andrea Ramírez LimónÚrsula SánchezDaniela Torres Huerta1 Rkia El MoukimSouad KanbouchiaMajida Maayouf2 Andrea DeelstraJill Holterman0 Jo Un-okKim Ji-hyangRi Kwang-ok3 Aleksandra LisowskaAngelika MachKarolina Jarzyńska3 Sara MoreiraCatarina RibeiroCarla Salomé Rocha3 Marta GalimanyElena LoyoLaura Méndez Esquer 1 Carolina WikströmCharlotta FougbergHanna Lindholm3 Viktoriia KaliuzhnaDarya MykhaylovaYevheniya Prokofyeva3 Sally Kipyego Molly Seidel Aliphine Tuliamuk2 Volha MazuronakNina Savina2 Mieke GorissenHanne Verbruggen2 Bojana BjeljacMatea Parlov Koštro2 Andrea BonillaRosa Chacha2 Kokob TesfagabrielNazret Weldu2 Aoife CookeFionnuala McCormack2 Lonah Chemtai SalpeterMaor Tiyouri1 Sara DossenaGiovanna Epis1 Iuliia AndreevaDarya Maslova2 Jovana de la CruzGladys Tejeda0 Marina KovalyovaSardana Trofimova2 Gerda SteynIrvette van Zyl2 Ahn Seul-kiChoi Kyung-sun2 Juliet ChekwelImmaculate Chemutai1 Marcela Cristina Gómez1 Angie Orjuela1 Susan Jeptooo Kipsang1 Zhanna Mamazhanova1 Neheng Khatala1 Lilia Fisikovici1 Bayartsogtyn Mönkhzayaa1 Helalia Johannes1 Fabienne Schlumpf1 Failuna Abdi Matanga1 Meryem ErdoğanFinishing position at designated competitions0 Nastassia Ivanova0 Nina Lauwaert0 Alice Mason0 Salomé Nyirarukundo1 Martina Strähl World ranking0 Universality Places1 Sharon Firisua Total 91

Competition format and course As for all Olympic marathons, the competition is a single race. The marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards (42.195 kilometers) was run over a course that started with two laps around Odori Park. The route next made a large loop (about half the marathon's length) through the streets of Sapporo, passing by Nakajima Park, Sapporo TV Tower, and Hokkaido University, and crossing the Toyohira River twice. The race then took two laps around a smaller (approximately ) section of the large loop. The finish line was back at Odori Park.

Records The existing world, Olympic and area records were left untouched by this race due to its harsh conditions:

Area Time Athlete Nation Africa 2:14:04 Brigid Kosgei Asia 2:19:12 Mizuki Noguchi Europe 2:15:25 Paula Radcliffe North, Central America and Caribbean 2:19:36 Deena Kastor Oceania 2:22:36 Benita Johnson South America 2:26:17 Yolanda Caballero

Schedule All times are Japan Standard Time (UTC+9)

The women's marathon took place on a single day.

Date Time Round Saturday, 7 August 2021 6:00 Final

Results Rank Athlete Nation Time Time Behind Notes Peres Jepchirchir 2:27:20 Brigid Kosgei 2:27:36 +0:16 Molly Seidel 2:27:46 +0:26 4 Roza Dereje 2:28:38 +1:18 5 Volha Mazuronak 2:29:06 +1:46 6 Melat Yisak Kejeta 2:29:16 +1:56 7 Eunice Chumba 2:29:36 +2:16 8 Mao Ichiyama 2:30:13 +2:53 9 Malindi Elmore 2:30:59 +3:39 10 Sinead Diver 2:31:14 +3:54 11 Helalia Johannes 2:31:22 +4:02 12 Fabienne Schlumpf 2:31:36 +4:16 13 Natasha Wodak 2:31:41 +4:21 14 Karolina Jarzyńska 2:32:04 +4:44 15 Gerda Steyn 2:32:10 +4:50 16 Immaculate Chemutai 2:32:23 +5:03 17 Sally Kipyego 2:32:53 +5:33 18 Deborah Schöneborn 2:33:08 +5:48 19 Ayuko Suzuki 2:33:14 +5:54 20 Neheng Khatala 2:33:15 +5:55 21 Matea Parlov Koštro 2:33:18 +5:58 22 Carolina Wikström 2:33:19 +5:59 23 Ellie Pashley 2:33:39 +6:19 24 Failuna Abdi Matanga 2:33:58 +6:38 25 Fionnuala McCormack 2:34:09 +6:49 26 Lisa Jane Weightman 2:34:19 +6:59 27 Gladys Tejeda 2:34:21 +7:01 28 Mieke Gorissen 2:34:24 +7:04 29 Elena Loyo 2:34:38 +7:18 30 Carla Salomé Rocha 2:34:52 +7:32 31 Katharina Steinruck 2:35:00 +7:40 32 Giovanna Epis 2:35:09 +7:49 33 Honami Maeda 2:35:28 +8:08 34 Choi Kyung-sun 2:35:33 +8:13 35 Aleksandra Lisowska 2:35:33 +8:13 36 Darya Maslova 2:35:35 +8:15 37 Marta Galimany 2:35:39 +8:19 38 Susan Jeptooo Kipsang 2:36:29 +9:09 39 Stephanie Davis 2:36:33 +9:13 40 Jovana de la Cruz 2:36:38 +9:18 41 Rosa Chacha 2:36:44 +9:24 42 Yevheniya Prokofyeva 2:36:47 +9:27 43 Nazret Weldu 2:37:01 +9:41 44 Andrea Deelstra 2:37:05 +9:45 45 Bayartsogtyn Mönkhzayaa 2:37:08 +9:48 46 Zhanna Mamazhanova 2:37:42 +10:22 47 Zhang Deshun 2:37:45 +10:25 48 Maor Tiyouri 2:37:52 +10:32 49 Hanne Verbruggen 2:38:03 +10:43 50 Nina Savina 2:38:41 +11:21 51 Martina Strähl 2:39:25 +12:05 52 Marcela Joglová 2:39:29 +12:09 53 Bojana Bjeljac 2:39:32 +12:12 54 Lilia Fisikovici 2:39:59 +12:39 55 Angie Orjuela 2:40:04 +12:44 56 Rkia El Moukim 2:40:10 +12:50 57 Ahn Seul-ki 2:41:11 +13:51 58 Tereza Hrochová 2:42:25 +15:05 59 Angelika Mach 2:42:26 +15:06 60 Andrea Bonilla 2:43:30 +16:10 61 Marcela Cristina Gómez 2:44:09 +16:49 62 Li Zhixuan 2:45:23 +18:03 63 Jill Holterman 2:45:27 +18:07 64 Úrsula Sánchez 2:45:45 +18:2565 Daniela Torres Huerta 2:47:15 +19:55 66 Lonah Chemtai Salpeter 2:48:31 +21:11 67 Bai Li 2:49:21 +22:01 68 Stephanie Twell 2:53:26 +26:06 69 Juliet Chekwel 2:53:40 +26:20 70 Catarina Ribeiro 2:55:01 +27:41 71 Jess Piasecki 2:55:39 +28:19 72 Sharon Firisua 3:02:10 +34:50 73 Dayna Pidhoresky 3:03:10 +35:50 – Andrea Ramírez Limón – 35 km – Ruth Chepng'etich – 30 km – Laura Méndez Esquer – 30 km – Birhane Dibaba – 25 km – Tejitu Daba – 25 km – Kokob Tesfagabriel – Half – Viktoriia Kaliuzhna – Half – Irvette van Zyl – Half – Sara Moreira – Half – Aliphine Tuliamuk – 20 km – Aoife Cooke – 20 km – Darya Mykhaylova – 20 km – Zeineba Yimer – 15 km – Eva Vrabcová-Nývltová – 10 km – Meryem Erdoğan – 5 km

References