The men's marathon at the 2024 Summer Olympics was held in Paris, France, on 10 August 2024. This was the 30th time that the men's marathon was contested at the Summer Olympics.
Summary
The men's marathon at the 2024 Summer Olympics took place on August 10, 2024, in Paris, France. The race featured the return of all three medalists from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics: two-time gold medalist Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, silver medalist Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands, and bronze medalist Bashir Abdi of Belgium. Kipchoge, the champion of the past two Olympic marathons, sought to make history with a victory in Paris becoming the first athlete to win three Olympic gold medals in the marathon. 2022 World Championship gold medalist Tamirat Tola, who also took silver back in 2017 and a track 10,000 bronze medal from 2016, came here as the alternate filling the shoes of injured Sisay Lemma. Abdi was also bronze medalist in 2022. 2023 World Champion Victor Kiplangat and silver medalist Maru Teferi are also entered. Yaseen Abdalla represented Qatar, making his marathon debut through a universality place. The marathon world record holder, Kelvin Kiptum, was killed in a car accident in February 2024.
The race commenced at 08:00 Central European Summer Time (UTC+2) under favorable weather conditions. In the initial stages, nearly 43 year old Bat-Ochir Ser-Od of Mongolia led the pack for the first 5 kilometers, followed by Héctor Garibay taking the front position until the 10-kilometer mark. Around 12 kilometers, Eyob Faniel of Italy made a significant surge, increasing the pace to 3:00 per kilometer, establishing a 23-second lead by the 15-kilometer point. The field was going closer to 3:07. However, the first series of hills had already begun when Faniel had 23 seconds over the field at 15K.
The hilly sections of the course significantly impacted the race dynamics, it broke apart the large pack, the lead "chase group" included Tamirat Tola, Bashir Abdi, Conner Mantz, Alphonce Simbu, Akira Akasaki, Elroy Gelant, Suguru Osako, with Deresa Geleta and Clayton Young hanging on the back. The earlier lead athlete Eyob Faniel began to slow on the inclines, reducing his advantage to 11 seconds by the 20K mark. Seizing the opportunity, Tola and Mantz began to accelerate and close their gap between them and Faniel, catching Faniel just over half a kilometer later. The three crossed the half marathon mark in 1:04:51. Geleta was next, 7 seconds back. With the easy downhill section, it took the lead chase group a little over 2K to catch back up to the leaders.
The subsequent downhill segment allowed the chase group to regroup, forming a lead pack of 15 runners by the 25K mark, with Akasaki marginally ahead. Faniel had by then fallen behind the leaders. Approaching the 28K mark, the course's challenging hills resumed. Akasaki maintained his lead initially, but Tola soon overtook him, steadily increasing his advantage. This move caused the lead pack to disintegrate. By the 29K point, Tola held a seven-second lead over Emile Cairess, the nearest pursuer. After a water station near the hill's summit, Tola commenced the descent, reaching the 30-kilometer mark with an 11-second lead over Cairess. Geleta, Abdi, and Akasaki followed.
With the steep descent, the order shifted again. Geleta overtook Cairess, while Akasaki moved ahead of Abdi. Simbu, capitalizing on the descent, surpassed all three. Geleta responded by reclaiming his position ahead of Simbu. By the time they reached the base near the 33-kilometer mark, Tola maintained a 13-second lead. The group behind him consolidated, with Tebello Ramakongoana and Benson Kipruto making significant gains to join the chasers.
With 5K remaining, Geleta, Abdi, and Kipruto formed a distinct chase group, distancing themselves from Akasaki. Tola extended his lead to 27 seconds. Shortly thereafter, Kipruto began to lose contact with the other chasers. In the final kilometer, Abdi reduced the gap to 17 seconds. Tola finished with the time 2:06:26 and narrowly break the Olympic record set by Samuel Wanjiru of Kenya at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. 21 seconds later, Abdi finished for silver 13 seconds ahead of Kipruto. Japan was the first country to get three across the finish line, ahead of Ethiopia and Italy.
Background The men's marathon has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since the inaugural edition in 1896, making this the 30th appearance of the event.
Course The marathon course began at the Hôtel de Ville and traversed many of the host city's most iconic landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and the Louvre before concluding at Les Invalides. Paris officials have stated the route has taken inspiration from the Women's March on Versailles. The route was characterized by significant elevation changes, totaling approximately 436 meters of ascent and 438 meters of descent, with gradients reaching up to 13.5%. Due to the elevation profile, the course has been discussed as one of the more challenging Olympic marathons. Notably, for the first time in Olympic history, the public had the opportunity to run the marathon course. Following the Olympic marathon, up to 40,000 runners will be able to participate in a public marathon or a 10k race.
Records Prior to this competition, the existing world, Olympic, and area records were as follows. +Global records before the 2024 Summer OlympicsRecordAthlete (Nation)TimeLocationDateWorld record2:00:35"All time Top lists – Senior – Marathon men ", World Athletics, 29 June 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.Chicago, United States8 October 2023Olympic record2:06:32Beijing, China24 August 2008World leading2:02:16"Season Top Lists – Senior 2024 – Marathon men ", World Athletics, 2024. Retrieved 29 June 2024.Tokyo, Japan3 March 2024 +Area records before the 2024 Summer OlympicsAfrica 2:00:35 Asia 2:04:43Europe 2:03:36North, Central America and Caribbean 2:05:36Oceania 2:07:31South America 2:04:51
Qualification
In order to comply with the 80-athlete capacity imposed by the IOC, World Athletics debuted a new qualification system ahead of the Paris games. Each country is eligible to send three athletes to compete in the marathon; however, each spot must be "unlocked" in one of three ways between 6 November 2022 to 30 April 2024. To unlock guaranteed spots for their country, athletes must run under a 2:08:10 in an eligible race within the time period. Athletes may also unlock a spot for their country by placing top five at a World Athletics platinum-level race or by reaching a high-enough World Athletics rankings. The world rankings were used to fill any entries not allocated to time-unlocked spots. Once spots have been unlocked for a country, the National Olympic Federation can select athletes to fill their spots as they see fit. While any athlete can be assigned to an unlocked spot, they must have run at least the Quota Reallocation Time of 2:11:30.
National Olympic Federations could also use a universality spot in the marathon. Any country with no qualified athlete was allowed to enter their best-ranked runner in the marathon regardless of qualification standards.
The qualification period for the 2024 Olympic Marathon ended on 30 April 2024 and exceeded the 80-athlete target by one entry. Qualification standardNo. of athletesNOC Nominated athletesEntry standard – 2:08:103 Bashir AbdiKoen NaertMichael Somers3 He JieYang Shaohui3 Samsom AmareBerhane TesfayKibrom Weldemicael3 Kenenisa BekeleDeresa GeletaSisay Lemma3 Morhad AmdouniFelix BourNicolas Navarro3 Samuel FitwiAmanal PetrosRichard Ringer3 Emile CairessMahamed MahamedPhilip Sesemann3 Maru TeferiGashau AyaleGirmaw Amare3 Yemaneberhan CrippaEyob FanielDaniele Meucci3 Eliud KipchogeBenson KiprutoAlexander Mutiso3 Othmane El GoumriMohcin OutalhaZouhair Talbi3 Ibrahim ChakirTariku NovalesYago Rojo3 Victor KiplangatStephen KissaAndrew Rotich Kwemoi2 Brett RobinsonPatrick Tiernan2 Cameron LevinsRory Linkletter2 Naoki KoyamaSuguru Osako2 Khalid ChoukoudAbdi Nageeye2 Zerei Kbrom MezngiSondre Nordstad Moen2 Tadesse AbrahamMatthias Kyburz2 Gabriel GeayAlphonce Simbu2 Conner MantzClayton Young0 Marius Kimutai 1 Héctor Garibay0 Daniel Ferreira do Nascimento 1 Carlos Díaz1 Bouh Ibrahim1 Alberto González Mindez1 Tebello Ramakongoana1 Cristhian Pacheco1 Samuel Barata1 Stephen Mokoka1 Suldan Hassan1 Kaan Kigen Özbilen1 Shokhrukh Davlatov1 Isaac MpofuWorld Athletics Rankings1 Liam Adams1 Hugo Catrileo1 Akira Akasaki1 Elroy Gelant1 Leonard KorirUniversality Places1 Samuel Freire1 Valentin Betoudji1 Mo'ath Alkhawaldeh1 Bat-Ochir Ser-Od1 Han Il-ryong1 Dario Ivanovski1 Yaseen Abdalla1 Eduardo Garcia Invitational places1 Tachlowini Gabriyesos Total 81
Results The event was held on 10 August, starting at 08:00 (UTC+2) in the morning.
Rank Athlete Nation Time Time Behind Notes Tamirat Tola 2:06:26 Bashir Abdi 2:06:47 +0:21 Benson Kipruto 2:07:00 +0:344 Emile Cairess 2:07:29 +1:035 Deresa Geleta 2:07:31 +1:056 Akira Akasaki 2:07:32 +1:067 Tebello Ramakongoana 2:07:58 +1:328 Conner Mantz 2:08:12 +1:469 Clayton Young 2:08:44 +2:1810 Samsom Amare 2:08:56 +2:3011 Elroy Gelant 2:09:07 +2:41 12 Richard Ringer 2:09:18 +2:5213 Suguru Osako 2:09:25 +2:5914 Bouh Ibrahim 2:09:31 +3:0515 Samuel Fitwi Sibhatu 2:09:50 +3:2416 Nicolas Navarro 2:09:56 +3:3017 Alphonce Simbu 2:10:03 +3:3718 Othmane El Goumri 2:10:06 +3:4019 Isaac Mpofu 2:10:09 +3:4320 Hassan Chahdi 2:10:09 +3:4321 Alexander Mutiso Munyao 2:10:31 +4:0522 Michael Somers 2:10:32 +4:0623 Naoki Koyama 2:10:33 +4:0724 Patrick Tiernan 2:10:34 +4:0825 Yemaneberhan Crippa 2:10:36 +4:1026 Maru Teferi 2:10:42 +4:1627 Stephen Mokoka 2:10:59 +4:3328 Suldan Hassan 2:11:21 +4:5529 Han Il-ryong 2:11:21 +4:5530 Matthias Kyburz 2:11:32 +5:0631 Gashau Ayale 2:11:36 +5:1032 Sondre Nordstad Moen 2:11:39 +5:1333 Yaseen Abdalla 2:11:41 +5:1534 Ibrahim Chakir 2:11:44 +5:1835 Zouhair Talbi 2:11:51 +5:2536 Cameron Levins 2:11:56 +5:3037 Victor Kiplangat 2:11:59 +5:3338 Tadesse Abraham 2:12:22 +5:5639 Kenenisa Bekele 2:12:24 +5:5840 Wu Xiangdong 2:12:34 +6:0841 Yago Rojo 2:12:43 +6:1742 Tachlowini Gabriyesos 2:12:47 +6:2143 Eyob Faniel 2:12:50 +6:2444 Girmaw Amare 2:12:51 +6:2545 Andrew Buchanan 2:12:58 +6:3246 Philip Sesemann 2:13:08 +6:4247 Rory Linkletter 2:13:09 +6:4348 Samuel Barata 2:13:23 +6:5749 Liam Adams 2:13:33 +7:0750 Felix Bour 2:13:46 +7:2051 Daniele Meucci 2:14:02 +7:3652 Zerei Kbrom Mezngi 2:14:14 +7:4853 Carlos Díaz 2:14:25 +7:5954 Henok Tesfay 2:14:31 +8:0555 Yang Shaohui 2:14:48 +8:2256 Samuel Freire 2:15:05 +8:3957 Mahamed Mahamed 2:15:19 +8:53 58 Khalid Choukoud 2:15:25 +8:5959 Hugo Catrileo 2:15:44 +9:1860 Héctor Garibay 2:15:54 +9:2861 Koen Naert 2:16:33 +10:0762 Andrew Rotich Kwemoi 2:17:28 +11:0263 Leonard Korir 2:18:45 +12:1964 Berhane Tesfay 2:18:50 +12:2465 Mo'ath Alkhawaldeh 2:20:01 +13:3566 Alberto González Mindez 2:22:12 +15:4667 He Jie 2:22:31 +16:0568 Tariku Novales 2:25:50 +19:2469 Dario Ivanovski 2:28:15 +21:4970 Valentin Betoudji 2:32:11 +25:4571 Bat-Ochiryn Ser-Od 2:42:33 +36:07 — Abdi Nageeye – 40 km Mohcin Outalha – 35 km Gabriel Gerald Geay – 30 km Eliud Kipchoge – 30 km Shokhrukh Davlatov – 30 km Amanal Petros – 30 km Stephen Kissa – 25 km Kaan Kigen Özbilen – Half Cristhian Pacheco – 15 km Eduardo Garcia – 5 km
Notes
References