Desisa ends 18-year hiatus for Ethiopians to take marathon world gold

Desisa — a two-time Boston marathon winner who donated his 2013 medal to the city following the bomb at the finishing line — emulated compatriot Gezaghne Abera’s win in the 2001 marathon in Edmonton.

In noticeably cooler and less humid conditions than last week’s women’s marathon, the early pace was set by Paraguay’s Derlis Ayala, who led by over a minute through 12km.

The 29-year-old Paraguayan lasted 20km in the front but was caught and passed by a sextet of runners.

There was no let up in the pace as Ayala dropped away with Eritrea’s 37-year-old six-time world half marathon champion Zersenay Tadese leading the way.

Ayala’s moment in the spotlight was over and so was his race as he called it a day shortly afterwards — at the same point the youngest runner in the race 21-year-old Tanzanian Augustino Sulle also retired.

Tadese, defending champion Geoffrey Kirui and Stephen Mokoka alternated in the lead along with Desisa of Ethiopia Kipruto — third in Tokyo and second in Berlin last year — and Geremew.

Six became four as Kirui’s crown looked to have slipped from his grasp and he faded away whilst Tedesay too looked to be weakening but hung on desperately.

Tedesay’s courageous effort finally met its end in terms of a medal as the bell rang for the final 7km circuit and the fast improving Briton Callum Hawkins moved in on him.

Hawkins, who has been training in his shed having bought heaters to try and replicate the conditions, moved easily past Tedesay and at the 39km mark had the leading quartet in his sights and joined them.

However, Hawkins having looked the coming man got dropped as they moved into the final kilometre and he had to suffer the agony of finishing fourth once more, just as he had done in 2017.

Desisa and Geremew kicked away and dropped Kipruto.

Desisa, though, had one final kick in him and eased away in the final half kilometre to take the tape on his own.

OS	BIB	ATHLETE	COUNTRY	MARK
1	699	Lelisa DESISA	ETH	2:10:40 SB
2	702	Mosinet GEREMEW	ETH	2:10:44
3	1282	Amos KIPRUTO	KEN	2:10:51
4	842	Callum HAWKINS	GBR	2:10:57
5	1633	Stephen MOKOKA	RSA	2:11:09
6	641	Zersenay TADESE	ERI	2:11:29 SB
7	363	El Hassan EL ABBASSI	BRN	2:11:44 SB
8	1378	Hamza SAHLI	MAR	2:11:49
9	1677	Tadesse ABRAHAM	SUI	2:11:58
10	663	Daniel MATEO	ESP	2:12:15
11	1289	Laban Kipngetich KORIR	KEN	2:12:38
12	1109	Yassine RACHIK	ITA	2:12:41
13	1800	Fred MUSOBO	UGA	2:13:42
14	1285	Geoffrey KIRUI	KEN	2:13:54 SB
15	1092	Eyob GHEBREHIWET FANIEL	ITA	2:13:57 SB
16	1733	Alphonce Felix SIMBU	TAN	2:13:57
17	1419	Tomas Hilifa RAINHOLD	NAM	2:14:38
18	1796	Stephen KIPROTICH	UGA	2:15:04
19	332	Paulo Roberto DE ALMEIDA PAULA	BRA	2:15:09
20	477	Shaohui YANG	CHN	2:15:17
21	1036	Thonakal GOPI	IND	2:15:57
22	1651	Felicien MUHITIRA	RWA	2:16:21
23	1922	Ahmed OSMAN	USA	2:16:22 SB
24	1480	Weldu Negash GEBRETSADIK	NOR	2:16:35
25	1242	Hiroki YAMAGISHI	JPN	2:16:43 SB
26	692	Tiidrek NURME	EST	2:17:38
27	1499	Malcolm HICKS	NZL	2:17:45
28	1705	Adhanom ABRAHA	SWE	2:17:57
29	1232	Yuki KAWAUCHI	JPN	2:17:59
30	1503	Caden SHIELDS	NZL	2:18:08
31	606	Thijs NIJHUIS	DEN	2:18:10
32	1632	Desmond MOKGOBU	RSA	2:18:21
33	686	Roman FOSTI	EST	2:18:30 SB
34	2045	Ngonidzashe NCUBE	ZIM	2:18:42
35	120	Fyodor SHUTOV	ANA	2:18:58
36	410	John MASON	CAN	2:19:21
37	1211	Kohei FUTAOKA	JPN	2:19:23
38	1904	Elkanah KIBET	USA	2:19:33 SB
39	174	Julian SPENCE	AUS	2:19:40
40	1405	Byambajav TSEVEENRAVDAN	MGL	2:20:07
41	212	Lemawork KETEMA	AUT	2:20:45
42	247	Thomas DE BOCK	BEL	2:21:13
43	1068	Stephen SCULLION	IRL	2:21:31
44	317	Wellington BEZERRA DA SILVA	BRA	2:21:49
45	403	Berhanu DEGEFA	CAN	2:22:28
46	1883	Andrew EPPERSON	USA	2:23:11
47	2042	Munyaradzi JARI	ZIM	2:23:34
48	1342	Dmitrijs SERJOGINS	LAT	2:24:00 PB
49	2023	Andrey PETROV	UZB	2:24:54
50	1819	Ihor POROZOV	UKR	2:26:11
51	327	Vagner DA SILVA NORONHA	BRA	2:26:11
52	2044	Isaac MPOFU	ZIM	2:29:24
53	282	Uladzislau PRAMAU	BLR	2:31:04
54	1404	Ser-Od BAT-OCHIR	MGL	2:36:01
55	1858	Nicolás CUESTAS	URU	2:40:05
	1770	Polat Kemboi ARIKAN	TUR	DNF
	1515	Derlys AYALA	PAR	DNF
	456	Bujie DUO	CHN	DNF
	1372	Mohamed Reda EL AARABY	MAR	DNF
	1774	Mert GIRMALEGESSE	TUR	DNF
	1732	Stephano Gwandu HUCHE	TAN	DNF
	234	Olivier IRABARUTA	BDI	DNF
	639	Merhawi KESETE	ERI	DNF
	218	Evans KIPLAGAT	AZE	DNF
	1293	Paul LONYANGATA	KEN	DNF
	1107	Daniele MEUCCI	ITA	DNF
	1630	Thabiso Benedict MOENG	RSA	DNF
	1801	Solomon MUTAI	UGA	DNF
	1737	Tony Ah-Thit PAYNE	THA	DNF
	368	Benson SEUREI	BRN	DNF
	1734	Augustino Paulo SULLE	TAN	DNF
	643	Okubay TSEGAY	ERI	DNF
	711	Mule WASIHUN	ETH	DNF