With the end of the World Championships in Eugene, it doesn’t mean, by any means, that athletic activity will come to a halt. In a few days the European Championships will start in Munich, while the Commonwealth Games are already underway. A competition in which the countries that were part of the British colony (Pakistan, Australia, Kenya, Nigeria, India, Jamaica, New Zealand, Great Britain, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago and a long list) compete against each other.
Well, in the men’s marathon event there was a most surreal scene. Fortunately, it had no consequences in terms of final results. The Ugandan athlete Victor Kiplangat was leading well ahead and in a part of the circuit, towards the end, he followed the press car. It was a crossroads and he pulled about 50 meters behind him when he realized that he had followed the wrong course. He quickly turned around and returned to the official ‘circuit’. A serious mistake by the organization that, as we commented, had no major consequences.
Finishing with slope
Kiplangat entered the finish line with a time of 2:10:55 ahead of Alphonse Simbu of Tanzania (2:12:29) and Githae (KEN), bronze with 2:13:16. Australia’s Liam Adams, who led for half the race, finished fourth with 2:13:23. The second half of the race had a lot of positive elevation gain, something that favored Kiplangat.
In the women’s race, Jessica Stenson (Australia) won with 2:27:31.
