2015 World Championships in Athletics – Women's marathon
The women's marathon at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics was held at the Beijing National Stadium on 30 August.[1][2]
| Women's marathon at the 2015 World Championships | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Venue | Beijing National Stadium | |||||||||
| Dates | 30 August | |||||||||
| Competitors | 65 from 38 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 2:27:39 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
Summary
Under overcast skies the race quickly formed two large packs of about 20 runners. For the next 25K, the lead pack remained about the same size with some runners bridging the gap in time for others to fall off the pace. Between 25K and 30K, the pack dropped to a dozen runners. Just after 31K, defending champion Edna Kiplagat accelerated. In the next 4K, the lead pack cut in half, the remaining athletes were three Kenyans, two Ethiopians and Eunice Kirwa wearing a Bahrain uniform, from Kenya. London Marathon champion Tigist Tufa was the first to fall back, then Kiplagat began to lose contact. But the four person pack remained tougher into the stadium. Four athletes to sprint it out on the track for three medals after running 26 miles. Mare Dibaba (no relation to the other famous Dibaba sisters) led the group toward the tunnel. As they started to speed up, Jemima Sumgong did not have another gear. Kirwa was perfectly positioned to strike but instead Helah Kiprop launched the attack from the back after looking like she was ready to drop off, long striding behind the diminutive Dibaba. 60 metres before the finish they were almost even, but Dibaba would not give that last few inches.[3] Then Dibaba sped away to cross the line with almost 7 metres gap. The times had a second between first and second, a four-second gap amongst the medalists and a 7-second gap back to fourth place. On every count, the closest Marathon finish in World Championship history.[4]
It was four Kenyan born athletes in places 2–5, Ethiopia and Japan placed three each in the top 14 places.
Records
Prior to the competition, the records were as follows:[5]
| World record |  Paula Radcliffe (GBR) |
2:15:25 | London, United Kingdom | 13 April 2003 |
| Championship record | Paula Radcliffe (GBR) |
2:20:57 | Helsinki, Finland | 14 August 2005 |
| World leading |  Mare Dibaba (ETH) |
2:19.52 | Xiamen, China | 3 January 2015 |
| African record |  Mary Jepkosgei Keitany (KEN) |
2:18:37 | London, United Kingdom | 22 April 2012 |
| Asian record |  Mizuki Noguchi (JPN) |
2:19:12 | Berlin, Germany | 25 September 2005 |
| NACAC record |  Deena Kastor (USA) |
2:19:36 | London, United Kingdom | 23 April 2006 |
| South American record |  Inés Melchor (PER) |
2:26:40 | Berlin, Germany | 28 September 2014 |
| European record | Paula Radcliffe (GBR) |
2:15:25 | London, United Kingdom | 13 April 2003 |
| Oceanian record | .svg.png.webp){kind=small} Benita Willis (AUS) |
2:22:36 | Chicago, United States | 22 October 2006 |
Qualification standards
| Time[6] |
|---|
| 2:44:00 |
Results
The race was started at 07:30.[7]
| KEY: | NR | National record | PB | Personal best | SB | Seasonal best |
References
- "Beijing 2015: Timetable". Beijing 2015. 10 August 2015. Archived from the original on 1 December 2014. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
- Start list
- "REPORT: WOMEN'S MARATHON – IAAF WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS, BEIJING 2015". iaaf.org. 30 August 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2015.
- http://www.iaaf.org/competitions/iaaf-world-championships/15th-iaaf-world-championships-4875/news/report/women/marathon/final
- "Records & Lists – Marathon". IAAF. Retrieved 14 August 2015.
- IAAF World Championships Beijing 2015 – Standards (PDF), IAAF, 2012, retrieved 18 August 2015
- Final results