Men's marathon at the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championship will go down in history as one of the most exciting marathons ever, with an spectacular final sprint between Alphonce Felix Simbu (33 years old) from Tanzania and Amanal Petros (30 years old) from Germany. Both were given the same time, 2:09:48.
Simbu crossed the finish line just 0.03 seconds ahead of Petros, which is the smallest margin ever in a global championships marathon, and brought Tanzania their first ever world title, a country that has only sent two athletes to Tokyo. He previously had won bronze in 2017.
"After 2017 I have been trying to win another medal but failed at it. Last year Paris was a challenge and this year I told myself: I will try my best. I did different types of training under different weather conditions", explained Alphonce Simbu, adding that they have "written new history as a country." "It was my dream. I am at peace. It is about discipline, training and never giving up."
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Simbu explained that he found it challenging in Paris with all the hills, so in Tanzania he trained on different surfaces, attributing the difference to his training on hills. "I had many tough moments during the race, but I told myself that I would never give up", he said, via World Athletics.
Petros was second and Iliass Aouani from Italy won bronze at 2:09:53. "It was hard. But this silver gives me energy and bigger motivation that I can win bigger competitions. I was so sure I was winning, he (Simbu) surprised me. He kicked like crazy. I accept I lost today but tomorrow I can win. Today is a learning experience", said Petros, who compared the final sprint as a 100m.