Peres Jepchirchir won the women’s marathon title at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo

Tokyo 2020 Olympics champion Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya won the women’s marathon title at the World Athletics Championships in the Japanese capital with a final sprint.

Former world record holder and Paris 2024 Olympics runner-up Tigst Assefa (Ethiopia) and Peres Jepchirchir entered the Olympic stadium together, with the Ethiopian taking the lead 300m before the finish. On the final straight, Peres Jepchirchir responded with a faster pace and finished in a personal best of 2:24:43 hours to Assefa’s 2:24:45 hours.

Julia Paternain (Uruguay) won her first world championship medal, finishing almost a kilometre behind the top pair, but with 2:27:23 hours won the bronze.

In the first part of the marathon, Susanna Sullivan (USA) led the pace and even pulled away significantly ahead, but was later overtaken by the others. In the end, Susanna Sullivan finished fourth with 2:28:17 hours, and the final eight was formed by her compatriot Jessica McClain with 2:29:20 hours.

During the marathon, the men’s 1,500m heats were held, where the Tokyo 2020 Olympics champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen (Norway) failed to qualify for the semifinals, as well as the leader of the outdoor season Azeddine Habz (France). The world record holder in the 1,500m for juniors Phanuel Koech (Kenya) stumbled at the beginning of the last lap and finished, but also without qualifying for the semifinals. Narve Gilje Nordas (Norway) finished with the first time – 3:35.90 minutes.