Summary
The temperatures for the women's marathon were a little warmer than for the men the day before, at 67 degrees Fahrenheit at the start. [2] As is typical for championship marathons, a giant lead pack congealed and reduced in size as individuals fell off the back. By 15 kilometers, 21 runners remained. There was a 428-metre (1,400 feet) hill climb over the next 3K. Mélody Julien of host France used the home field advantage to break away to a 15-meter lead toward the Palace of Versailles. An hour in, Jessica Stenson then took the lead. At the halfway point, following the major portion of the hill, Julien, Stenson and Dakotah Lindwurm were the top three.
After passing a water station near the Palace, Lindwurm emerged off the front, but Lonah Chemtai Salpeter and Sardana Trofimova, caught up at 24K. Salpeter continued on the front but in less than a kilometre, Tigst Assefa and Peres Jepchirchir closed in. Over the next 5K, the pack whittled down to 12. At about 28K, the race had its steepest climb, some of it up to a 13.5% grade—more than one and a half times the Hors catégorie in the Tour de France. Amane Beriso Shankule took the lead there, followed by a smaller pack including Assefa, Hellen Obiri, Salpeter, Jepchirchir, Sharon Lokedi, Eunice Chumba, Delvine Relin Meringor, and Yuka Suzuki.
On the downhill, though, in less than a kilometre, Sifan Hassan, known for her fast finishing kick, caught up to the pack. Over the next 5K, the pack had reduced to Shankule, Assefa, Obiri, Lokedi, Meringor, Suzuki and Hassan. Meringor and Suzuki fell off over the next 5 kilometres. Going into the final 2K, Shankule was the first to go as Obiri and Assefa battled at the front. Lokedi was behind the two with Hassan. But then Lokedi, followed by Obiri began to struggle, and as they fell back, Hassan accelerated. Assefa also accelerated around one turn, but Hassan switched sides sprinting the tangent to pass on the inside of the next turn. Assefa dipped her shoulder to cut off space between her body and the barricade. But Hassan pushed Assefa away to make the pass just as they passed the 42 km marker. Over the final 195 metre sprint, Hassan took the lead, hitting the finish banner for the gold medal three seconds ahead of silver medalist Assefa. Obiri won the bronze, 12 seconds further back. [3]
Hassan's winning margin of three seconds over a distance of greater than 26 miles (42 km) was the narrowest of any women's marathon at the Olympics. After the race, the Ethiopian team filed a protest to disqualify Hassan due to obstruction, which was rejected by the Jury of Appeal. At the post-race news conference, Tigst remarked (through a translator) "I didn’t expect at that moment it would happen. Maybe at that moment, if she didn’t push me I would have the gold." [4] [5]
Kinzang Lhamo, the last marathon runner to finish 80th place at 3:52:59, received widespread praise for her determination to finish the race. [6]
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