It was billed as the most brutal course in Olympic marathon history. And all along the road from Versailles to Paris there were broken bodies and dreams, including those of the Rio and Tokyo champion, Eliud Kipchoge, who pulled out after 30km, and another legend, Kenenisa Bekele, who could only finish 39th.
Which makes the performance of the Ethiopian Tamirat Tola, who powered to gold in an Olympic record time of 2hr 6min 26sec, so deeply impressive. He made his move at 18 miles before finishing 21 seconds clear of Belgium’s Bashir Abdi, with Kenya’s Benson Kipruto taking bronze.
But 29 seconds outside the podium places was Britain’s Emile Cairess, who ran the race of his young life to finish fourth in 2:07.29.
At one point it looked as if the 26-year-old might even win a medal, as he reached the top of the last big hill with eight miles to go in second place. And while he then slipped back, a late burst at Invalides brought Team GB their best marathon finish since Jon Brown came fourth in Sydney.
Cairess is so resolutely old-school he wears a basic orange Casio timepiece when he runs, rather than the latest GPS watch. But all the winter training in the hills around his home in Bradford, followed by six weeks in Kenya and seven in Sestiere, proved invaluable on a sweaty morning in Paris.
“It’s the best race I’ve ever had, and by a decent bit,” he said. “I didn’t really care where I came, it was more about doing my best race and feeling I fulfilled my potential. I can’t control how fit the other guys are.
“I felt like 2:10 would be a medal, probably, that’s what it usually is and it’s a tough course,” he added. “But I ran the best I could have and I’m really proud of myself.”
There were 80 athletes on the start line at Hôtel de Ville at 8am, ready to tackle a course that retraced part of the Women’s March, one of the earliest and most significant events of the French Revolution in 1789. But the impending hills, not the history, were most on their minds.
The pain started after nine miles with a 1.25-mile hill at 4% incline. Then came another one at mile 12 at 5%. The one-two punch was enough to send Bekele drifting backwards as well as Kipchoge, who was now 26 seconds back. Tola, however, looked immensely comfortable.
There was a group of 15 men in the lead pack as they hit the hardest test of all, a 13.5% hill at 18 miles. It was here that Tola kicked on, establishing an 11-second lead that he never looked like relinquishing.
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However, as Abdi pointed out afterwards it was not just going up that was the problem. “This is the hardest marathon course I’ve ever run,” he said. “Actually, I expected going uphill would be most challenging, but I found going downhill most difficult. It was very steep and you don’t have control of your body. That was very scary, especially after 29km, we had almost 2km of running downhill and it was just very challenging.”
At this point Cairess was second, but he never felt that anyone had a chance of gold: “Tola was away and gone,” he said. However he was rightly proud about the way he had risen to the challenge. “I’m pretty good at hills – I tried to keep a good pace,” he said. “Hills come natural to me.”
And what of Tola? The 32-year-old Ethiopian was inspired to become a runner by watching Haile Gebrselassie and Bekele run for their country when he was 19 or 20. However, he wasn’t supposed to be here, having been only a reserve until Sisay Lemma pulled out with injury.
“This is the greatest day of my life,” said Tola, who had previously won a bronze medal in Rio over 10,000m, as well as the 2022 world championship marathon and 2023 New York marathon. “I am very happy because this was always my goal. I was fully prepared and knew I could fulfil my dream. I am happy to do that today.”