World-record holder Eluid Kipchoge defended his Olympic title in the men’s marathon on Saturday as Kenyan runners continued to dominate the long-distance race.
Kipchoge, 36, destroyed the field with a burst at the 30-kilometer mark a day after compatriots Peres Jepchirchir and Brigid Kosgei won the gold and silver, respectively, in the women’s race.
Kipchoge won in a time of 2 hours, 8 minutes, 38 seconds to become the third man to repeat as the marathon champion. The others are Abebe Bikila of Ethiopia and Waldemar Cierpinski of Germany, who did it four decades ago.
“I think I have fulfilled the legacy by winning the marathon for the second time,” he told reporters. “I hope now to help inspire the next generation.”
Kipchoge, considered the greatest marathon runner in history, was well off his world record of 2:01.39 on another humid day in Sapporo, Japan.
But it hardly mattered as a group of 10 runners tried to stay with him through the first 18 1/2 miles. Oregon runner Galen Rupp led for a chunk of the 26.2-mile race but finished eighth overall in 2:11.41.
The two-time Olympic medalist lost contact with the lead group when Kipchoge took off at the 30K mark. Rupp lost 1 minute, 7 seconds over the next five kilometers as Kipchoge ran a blistering 14.28 minutes.
At that point, the rest of the field was running for the silver and bronze medals.
“I wanted to create a space to show the world that this is a beautiful race,” Kipchoge said of the gap he built. “I wanted to test my fitness, I wanted to test how I’m feeling. I wanted to show that we have hope in the future.”
Kenya was in position for another 1-2 finish as the women with Lawrence Cherono looking strong as the runners scrambled toward the finish line.
But Cherono couldn’t hold off Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands and Bashir Abdi of Belgium, who got the silver and bronze medals, respectively, with the Kenyan two seconds off the podium. Nageeye and Bashir both are Somali immigrants.
Stanford alum Jake Riley moved into the top 20 late in the race but eventually faded to 27th place with a time of 2:16.26. Tucson’s Abdi Abdirahman, 44, was 41st (2:18:27) in his fifth Olympic appearance.
