Eliud Kipchoge eases his way as he defends Olympics marathon title

Eliud Kipchoge became only the third man in history to successfully defend the Olympic Marathon crown after running a commanding race to win the Tokyo title in a time of 2:08:38.
Kipchoge won by 1:20, the biggest victory margin in an Olympic marathon since Frank Shorter’s win in 1972.

After the 26km mark, it was not a question of if but when Kipchoge would cross the line for Kenya’s fourth gold medal in Tokyo, and the world record holder did not disappoint, striding to the finish line to defend his title.

Lawrence Cherono was beaten with a sprint finish in the final 20m to come home fourth while the third Kenyan in the race, Amos Kipruto, dropped out after 36km.
Cherono who looked ripe for silver in the final 500m of the race was outsprinted in the final 20 by Netherlands’ Abdi Negeeye as well as his training partner Bashir Abdi.
Negeeye made the first move to gallop beyond Cherono and constantly waved his mate Bashir on, the latter responding with a spirited sprint to come home third for bronze. Negeeye timed 2:09:58 while Bashir timed a flat 2:10.
Cherono was fourth in 2:10:02.