In Tokyo, fans witnessed a marathon finish that will be remembered for generations. Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbu edged past Germany’s Amanal Petros in a breathtaking men’s marathon at the World Championships, winning by just 0.03 seconds after 26.2 exhausting miles!
The two athletes stormed into Japan National Stadium shoulder to shoulder, forcing a photo finish to separate them. Both were timed at 2 hours, 9 minutes, and 48 seconds, but Simbu’s desperate lunge at the line gave him the victory.
“It felt like a 100 meter dash,” Petros admitted, and he wasn’t exaggerating. The margin was even slimmer than the men’s and women’s 100 meter finals that took place the night before.
This nail biting ending marked the closest marathon finish in World Championships history and secured Tanzania’s first ever gold medal at either the Olympics or the world stage.
“It is amazing to me,” Simbu said proudly. “I made history today.”
