No Olympic marathon hangover as Paris runners flock to New York
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Ethiopia's Tamirat Tola runs past the Eiffel Tower en route to winning the men's marathon at the Paris Olympic Games on Aug 10, 2024. He will be defending his New York Marathon title.
PHOTO: AFP
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NEW YORK – A field packed with 2024 Olympians will descend on the year’s final marathon Major in New York on Nov 3, with surprisingly few citing fatigue to opt out after the Paris Games this past summer.
The defending men’s champion Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia and Kenyan women’s champion Hellen Obiri, who took gold and bronze in Paris respectively, will be among 29 Paris Olympians and Paralympians at the starting line.
“What I anticipated – and we didn’t really have – was people who signed on to run the race and then said, ‘You know what, I’m too beat up and I’m not coming’,” said Sam Grotewold, general manager of professional athletes for organisers New York Road Runners.
“We didn’t have that attrition like we would typically expect, especially in an Olympic year.”
Each year it is Grotewold’s job to compete with other marathons in autumn to attract the best of the best in distance running, a task that becomes harder in an Olympic year when many top competitors would rather put their legs on ice.
His job got a little easier in 2021, when Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir became the first to win the famed five-borough race and Olympic gold in the same year, inspiring Tola as he attempts the same.
“We lost (only) two people who competed in Paris who were expected to start on Sunday,” Grotewold added. “I expected maybe triple that and we just didn’t get it.”
Advances in fuelling, nutrition and training have helped, he said, along with the rise of the “super shoes” that have led to faster times across the board.
“Shoe technology helps a ton there because you finish those races and you’re just not as beat up as you used to be, and then you can start training again much more quickly than you were previously,” he explained.
Tola is joined by Paris runner-up Bashir Abdi of Belgium, who is seeking his first Major title after a trio of podium finishes, and Kenyan Evans Chebet, who won in 2022 and triumphed in Boston twice.
“This is my favourite course. My coach gave me very hard training coming in; that’s very important for me. My body is OK. On Sunday we will see,” Tola told Olympics.com.
“I arrive with confidence. I feel good mentally, so I think I can win. I expect I’ll have a good race. And I can see if there’s anything that I can improve on moving forward.”
Obiri will battle against compatriots Sharon Lokedi, who won the race in 2022 and finished second in Boston earlier in 2024, and 2018 London winner Vivian Cheruiyot.
“There’s no place like New York, and I am so ready to defend my title,” Obiri said on the World Athletics website.
“I have been racing very well on the roads in the United States, and I hope I can have another good day.” REUTERS
