Travel to the past this Saturday in the Paris 2024 Olympic marathon, with protagonists from the past and present, but little future because of their age, and there are references from a more distant past to beat to enter the legend, to go if where no one has done. At the start (8:00 am) of the most Olympic event on the program is the Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge, 39 years old, the best marathon runner in history, but not yet the greatest of the Games. It has one victory, which will be the third in a row. An unprecedented milestone in athletics, which will lead the African genius to break ties with two other two-time Olympic champions, both consecutively, like him: Abebe Bikila, the most remembered (1960, 1964), and Waldemar Cierpinski, who gave the GDR the Montreal and Moscow golds in the 42.195 kilometer test.
Kipchoge, due to age, is in the twilight of his career, but that doesn’t mean he can’t win in Paris. Yua is certainly not the almost superhuman runner who went under two hours in that experiment that could not be homologated for a record in Vienna, nor was he at the level of his top worlds before the emergence of the evil Kelvin Kiptum , the current record holder. , who died this year in an accident. But he qualified for the Games running 2h04′, and that was within the reach of very few. On that trip back in time, he would once again see his generational Ethiopian rival, the more unpredictable and erratic Kenenisa Bekele, even older (42 years old). They were both in the same war 16 years ago, in Beijing, where Bekele won the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, with Kipchoge second in the 5,000.
It’s not heads-up, because there are more favorites. And all the younger ones. There is the leader of the year, Kenyan Benson Kipruto, 2h02’16” in Chicago, fifth best time ever. And the other Kenyans, including Deresa Geleta (2h03’27”) and Tamirat Tola, world champion in 2022. The Spaniards in the running, who have no diploma options in principle, are Tariku Novales, Ibrahim Chakir and Yago Rojo.
The route is not candy, quite the opposite. Here the brand is relative, it does not have the importance it receives in faster tests, like Berlin or London, or even Chicago. As in many events at these Games, historical references ‘designed’ the circuit that ends at the Invalides. It has 436 meters of positive slopes and some dissuasive slopes, as 42,195 kilometers will take the athletes from Paris City Hall to Versailles to return to the Invalides Esplanade, in honor of the ‘Women’s March’ that is on the 5th and Sa. October 6, 1789, they took up arms to demand bread and freedom in protest at the gates of the Palace of Versailles leading to the flight of King Louis XVI. The heat can also be another factor to make the race tougher.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Jason Root, a professional writer working with Today Times Live, the premier news website. I specialize in sports writing, covering the biggest stories in the world of athletics. With an eye for detail and a passion for storytelling, I provide engaging and informative articles that capture the key elements of any event or issue. My work has been featured on numerous respected websites and publications around the world.
