ZIMBABWE’S top marathon runner Isaac Mpofu says he tried his best under difficult and challenging conditions after finishing 19th in the Paris Olympic Games men’s marathon race yesterday.
Mpofu clocked a time of 2 hours 10 minutes 9 seconds on his Olympics debut.
The 35-year-old’s performance means that female distance runner Rutendo Nyahora who competes this morning is the country’s last hope for a medal at the 2024 Global Games.
Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola won the men's race in 2 hours 6 minutes 26 seconds, setting a new Olympic record while Bashir Abdi of Belgium was second in 2 hours 6 minutes 47seconds with Kenyan Benson Kipruto settling for third position after clocking 2 hours 7 minutes.
Mpofu admitted that the race was tougher than he anticipated.
“The race was good, everything was ok but the terrain was a little bit challenging but I coped well. The time which I got of 2minutes 10 seconds was within our target of 2 minutes 10 and below so I managed (to reach the target). I tried my best,” he said after the race.
“It was very tough for me. The terrain was very tough and the weather conditions had too much water. I am happy (with my debut performance) though I wanted a top 10, but I am happy. That is the outcome of the day I thank God and I will try to prepare for the next coming games.
“The preparations were very tough and challenging. We managed to cope and we managed to come injury free. You can see from the outcome that it was a challenging day but a good experience for me. The biggest lesson is that you just need to quickly adjust to the weather conditions and it must be corrected in the near future,” Mpofu said.
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Mpofu went to the Olympics with a personal best time of 2 hours 6 minutes 48 seconds which is the Zimbabwe national record while his season’s best is 2 hours 8 minutes 17 seconds, which he ran at the Boston Marathon.
Tola delivered a masterclass in solo front running to win the Olympic men's marathon in Paris as Eliud Kipchoge's bid for a third gold went up in smoke.
Kipchoge won gold in Rio and Tokyo in 2021, but the 39-year-old Kenyan withdrew from the race just after the 30km mark, at which point he was 71st, more than eight minutes off the pace.
The 42km-long marathon course headed out of central Paris to Versailles, mimicking a key moment from the French Revolution: the Women's March on Versailles, on 5 October 1789 which led to French King Louis XVI finally agreeing to ratify the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens.
The route included a 436m climb and 438m descent. The maximum gradient on the route was 13.5 per cent.
