*** Welcome to piglix ***

2015 World Championships in Athletics – Men's marathon

Men's marathon
at the 2015 World Championships
Ghirmay Ghebreslassie (3) Beijing 2015.jpg
Venue Beijing National Stadium
Dates 22 August
Competitors 67 from 38 nations
Winning time 2:12:27
Medalists
gold medal     Eritrea
silver medal     Ethiopia
bronze medal     Uganda
← 2013
2017 →
Events at the
2015 World Championships
Athletics pictogram.svg
Track events
100 m   men   women
200 m men women
400 m men women
800 m men women
1500 m men women
5000 m men women
10,000 m men women
100 m hurdles women
110 m hurdles men
400 m hurdles men women
3000 m
steeplechase
men women
4 × 100 m relay men women
4 × 400 m relay men women
Road events
Marathon men women
20 km walk men women
50 km walk men
Field events
High jump men women
Pole vault men women
Long jump men women
Triple jump men women
Shot put men women
Discus throw men women
Hammer throw men women
Javelin throw men women
Combined events
Heptathlon women
Decathlon men
Demonstration events
Masters 400 m women
Masters 800 m men

The men's marathon at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 22 August.

The name Gebrselassie is familiar in running circles, but this race was won by Haile's sound alike Ghirmay Ghebreslassie from a different country, neighboring Eritrea. Not only was he the youngest winner of a World Championship marathon, he was the first gold medalist for his country ever.

The early leader was Ser-Od Bat-Ochir, then Daniele Meucci and Ruggero Pertile getting camera time to the half way mark while the favorites including defending champion Stephen Kiprotich stayed slightly off the pace. Ghebreslassie marked the more experienced runners. Tsepo Ramonene made a breakaway at 25 km opening up a 30-second lead. As he watched two Kenyans drop out and other favorites struggle, Ghebreslassie decided to set loose at 34 km. Over the next couple of kilometers, he made up the gap and passed Ramonene with authority. But a couple of kilometers later Yemane Tsegay passed Ghebreslassie. Tsegay's lead only lasted two minutes until Ghebreslassie took the lead for good. Over the final kilometers, he extended his lead to 40 seconds. Running relaxed and fast like an exuberant teenager, he was handed an Eritrean flag as he entered the stadium. He held his flag but kept on running past the finish line until officials were able to tell him he was done. “I’ve never finished in a stadium before.” Behind him, in comparison, Tsegay, Solomon Mutai and the other runners finished looking as if they had just finished a marathon.

Prior to the competition, the records were as follows:

All times are local times (UTC+8)

The race was started at 07:35.


...
Wikipedia

...