2016 Olympic Marathon - Women
By John Elliott
photo: Victah Sailer/PhotoRun |
An Honest Pace
Unlike other major international marathons, there are no bonuses to encourage runners to run a fsater time and no pacemakers to bring the runners out toward a given time. Instead, the runners are on their own to run a strategic race and hope that they can gain one of the three top spots by the end of the race and the Gold, Silver or Bronze Medal.
With the focus solely on finishing position, the pace can sometimes be slow - but we were heartened to see the Rio Olympics Women's Marathon start at an honest pace. From the beginning, the presumptive favorite - Mare Dibaba (ETH) - set the pace and the women went through the first 5K in 17:23. To put that pace in perspective, the women's Marathon at the 2012 Olympics went through the first 5K in 17:20 - nearly the same time. The pace was also substantive enough, that the lead pack quickly whittled down to consist of only 14 of the 157 starters. The women ran through the halfway point in 1:12:56, at that point well ahead of the 1:13:13 time through the halfway point at the London Olympics four years earlier.
The Leaders
Through the first half of the race, the leadership swapped between a variety of women. Mare Dibaba took control of the opening stages of the race. Helah Kiprop (KEN), pushed the pace after 10K when the pace seemed to slow. Desiree Linden (USA) - one of the smartest marathoners on the field - ran an intersting race: sometimes leading but sometimes falling back five or ten seconds; running her own pace, but pulling the field along when the pace slowed. In the lead pack were representatives of all of the favorite countries: Kenya, Ethiopia, the USA. But also upfront were runners from Bahrain - a country that recruits and naturalizes athletes from other countries, and the top woman from Belarus who also served to lead for much of the early part of the race.
The Second Half of the Race - Truly International
Entering the second half of the race, the field had shaken out to consist of nine athletes in what was a truly international group. Two women from North America: Shalane Flanagan (USA) and Amy Cragg (USA); two women representing Asia: Rose Chelimo (Bahrain) and Eunice Kirwa (Bahain); two pairs of women from Africa: Mare Dibabe and Tirfi Tsegay both of Ethiopia, and Jemima Sumgong and Helah Kiprop of Kenya; and one woman from Europe: Voha Mazuronak of Belarus. It was interesting to see the OLympics coming down to pairs of teammates from around the globe.
photo: Victah Sailer/PhotoRun |
Narrowing Down to Three
It is not often that we can say that an athlete from Bahrain broke the race apart and set the pace for the final stretch of the run. But for the 2016 Olympics, it was Eunice Kirwa - formally of Kenya, but a Bahraini citizen since 2014 - who at mile 21 pushed the pace and broke the pack down to three: Kirwa, Mared Dibaba and Jemima Sumgong. These three continued to push the pace and shortly it was clear that the top three positions would go to these three.
The Finish
The pre-race favorite, Mare Dibaba, was the first to fall back unable to hold the pace and relegated to taking the bronze medal. And with that the race was down to two runners. With one mile remaining, Jemima Sumgong pushed hard again and the reigning London Marathon champion prevailed through to the finish in a winning time of 2:24:04. With that, Sumgong became the first Kenyan woman to take the gold medal in the Marathon. Eunice Kirwa continued strong to take the silver medal in 2:24:13 and Mare Dibaba held on for the the bronze medal in 2:24:30.
photo: Victah Sailer/PhotoRun |
The Americans
Although not medalling, the American team had its best overall finish at the Olympics with all three Americans finishing within the top 10. Shalane Flanagan finished sixth in 2:25:26, Desiree Linden finished seventh in 2:26:08 and Amy Cragg took the ninth spot in 2:28:25.
photo: Victah Sailer/PhotoRun |
Another Shout Out - Lanni Marchant
We want to take a moment to give a shout out to a runner that we see at races in North America: Canadian Lanni Marchant. After making the standard for the 2012 Olympics Marathon, Marchant was not allowed to participate in those Olympics as Athletics Canada chose not to enter any women in the Olympic Marathon. Some would be heartbroken by this, but Marchant stepped up and broke the 27-year Canadian Marathon record and set additional records at multiple distances. Having not been able to attend the Olympics in 2012, Marchant qualified in two distances for the 2016 Olympics - the 10,000m and Marathon - and chose to do both. While that is impressive enough, we are most impressed by Marchant's performances where she finished in the top 25 in both events. Marchant ran her second fastest 10,000m ever (25h place in 32:04 (she did not hold back) and then less than 48 hours later ran a very strong marathon (24th place in 2:33:08) - well done!
Full Results
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