good morning!
It’s a shame that the Olympics are nearly over as we’ve had some truly great moments this year. Still, we’ve got a good amount of events left including handball, the modern pentathlon and the basketball finals.
But they all pale to the grandest event of them all: the marathon.
On Sunday, two waves of runners – men and women – will 26.2 miles across Paris, continuing an athletic feat that has been featured in the Olympics since 1896.
There truly is nothing greater than the marathon. And the Olympics seems to know it, as the winners’ medal ceremony takes place during the closing ceremony.
I don’t know too many faces in the men’s field, but there’s one we should all know. That’s Eliud Kipchoge. The Kenyan won back-to-back gold medals in the 2016 and 2020 Olympics marathons, and he’s hoping for the three-peat here in Paris.
For those who may not remember, he visited Tottenham once! Here’s a video of him cheering on the team:
The great travesty of these Olympics is that it won’t feature Kelvin Kiptum, who set a new world record for the marathon at 2:00.35 before he was killed in a car crash earlier this year.
It puts an extra heaviness on the field, not least for his Kenyan compatriots.
Battling Kipchoge will be Kenenisa Bekele, his great rival. The Ethiopian runner came in second at the London Marathon this year at 2:04:15.
Another contennder could be Bashir Abdi, the Belgian runner who clocked a 2:03:47 time at the Boston Marathon last year.
Any American podium-finishers would be a huge surprise. Their two entrants’ fastest times were around the 2:09.00 mark, well off the pace.
It was harder to find all the entrants for the women’s marathon. What we do know is that defending gold medalist Peres Jephchirchir will be running again, after winning the 2024 London Marathon with a time of 2:16. The current world-record holder, Tigist Assefa of Ethiopia, will also be competing.
The race begins early in Paris. I think 8 and 9am local time, respectively. Which makes things a little tricky for us viewers in America. It might be the rare time I watch a sporting event on replay.
I often don’t, but I’ll make an exception for the Olympics’ greatest event.
Fitzie’s track of the day: Moonlight Mile, by the Jerry Garcia Band
And now for your links:
The Athletic ($$): Why Dominic Solanke suits Ange Postecoglou’s style
A handy guide for those of you who want to watch EFL football on Paramount Plus
Pepe announces retirement
