The men's marathon was one of the road events at the

2019 World Athletics Championships The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held betw ...

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the count ...

, Qatar. Due to the heat in Doha, the race was scheduled to begin at 23:59 on 5 October 2019. Even with the unusual timing, high temperatures were expected to provide difficult conditions for running, but in the end temperatures dropped to around and 50% humidity. The race was won by

Lelisa Desisa Lelisa Desisa Benti (born 14 January 1990) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who specialises in road running competitions. Desisa gained his first international medal at the 2009 African Junior Athletics Championships, where he took the 10,000 ...

of Ethiopia in , followed four seconds behind by his compatriot

Mosinet Geremew Mosinet Geremew (born 12 February 1992) is an Ethiopian middle-distance and long-distance runner. Mosinet's career started in cross country running. He ran in the junior category at the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and placed ...

. Amos Kipruto of Kenya was third in 2:10:51. The marathon was held on

Doha Corniche The Doha Corniche ( ar, كورنيش الدوحة) is a waterfront promenade extending for along Doha Bay in Qatar's capital city, Doha. Annual celebrations of national holidays such as Qatar National Day and National Sports Day are centered on ...

, and consisted of six laps of a roughly floodlit course.

Derlis Ayala Derlis Ramón Ayala Sanchez (born 7 January 1990) is a Paraguayan long-distance runner. Career Born in Ciudad del Este, he represented Paraguay at the South American Cross Country Championships in 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2014. He is a member of ...

of Paraguay broke away from the start, and led the race until he was caught by a pack consisting of Desisa, Geremew, Geoffrey Kirui, Kipruto, Stephen Mokoka and

Zersenay Tadese Zersenay Tadese (Tigrinya: ዘርእሰናይ ታደሰ; born 8 February 1982) is an Eritrean long-distance track and road running athlete. He held the men's half marathon world record from 2010 to 2018. His bronze medal in the 10,000 metres ...

just before the halfway mark. Mokoka and Tadese attempted to speed away from the pack a few times, but were caught on each occasion. After , the pack began to splinter, and after Kirui and Tadese had dropped back,

Callum Hawkins Callum Robert Hawkins (born 22 June 1992) is a British distance runner, who competed in the marathon at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He is the Scottish record holder in the marathon and the British all-time number three at that distance behind Mo F ...

joined the leading group at the point. Desisa gradually increased the pace from that stage, culminating in a sprint finish to win the race. All the top ten finishers qualified automatically for the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

Qualification

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF, now

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body fo ...

) announced the qualifying criteria for the

in December 2018. For the men's marathon, the entry standard was 2:16:00, three minutes quicker than had been required for the 2017 marathon. Alternatively, a top-10 finish at an IAAF Gold Label marathon, or a wild card entry as the reigning world champion would ensure qualification. Entry criteria had to be met during the qualification period: 7 March 2018 to 6 September 2019, inclusive.

Preview

Due to the hot conditions in

, the World Championships were scheduled in October, rather than the traditional August, and instead of holding the marathon during the day, it started just before midnight local time to minimise the impact that the heat would have on the race, making it the first-ever World Championships to feature night marathons; first the women's on 27 September, and then the men's on 5 October. Despite these changes, the temperature was expected to be a key factor in the race: temperatures were predicted to be around , with humidity levels above 80 per cent. In mitigation, the IAAF added extra water stations and medical staff along the route, as well as more ice baths at the finish. The course consisted of six laps of a floodlit roughly course along the

, a waterfront promenade on

Doha Bay Doha Bay is the bay bordering Qatar's capital city of Doha. Doha was established on the south bank of the bay. The loop started in front of the Amiri Diwan, and stretched to the

Sheraton Hotel Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is an international semi-luxury hotel chain owned by Marriott International. As of June 30, 2020, Sheraton operates 446 hotels with 155,617 rooms globally, including locations in North America, Africa, Asia Pacific, Cen ...

Eliud Kipchoge Eliud Kipchoge ( ; born 5 November 1984) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who competes in the marathon and formerly specialized at the 5000 metre distance. Widely regarded as the greatest marathon runner of all time, he is the 2016 and 2020 O ...

, the world record holder and Olympic champion for the marathon, did not take part in the World Championships as he was preparing for the Ineos 1:59 Challenge. Sean Ingle of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' said that "most of the world's top marathon runners" were not taking part. Steve Smythe of '' Athletics Weekly'' concurred and said that with so many good runners missing, it was hard to predict who might win. He suggested

and Mule Wasihun of Ethiopia as contenders, along with the reigning World Champion, Geoffrey Kirui, though he noted that Kirui was out of form. In his preview for World Athletics, Mike Rowbottom suggested that the winner was "likely to be Kenyan, Ethiopian or Bahraini", and he concurred that Geremew and Wasihun were the two "clear favourites". Both the high temperatures, and the tactical nature of World Championship races, meant that it was not expected that any records would be set. Abel Kirui held the World Championship record of 2:06:54 achieved in 2009, while

held the overall men's world record of 2:01:39, set during the 2018 Berlin Marathon.

Summary

The race was officially scheduled to start at 23:59 local time (UTC+3) on 5 October 2019; temperatures had cooled since the women's marathon, at and 48.6 per cent humidity. At the start of the race, Derlys Ayala of Paraguay broke away from the front of the field and established a 150 metre-lead over the other runners by the end of the first kilometre. Behind Ayala, who had run the

Buenos Aires Marathon The Maratón de Buenos Aires is an annual marathon foot-race which takes place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, during the Southern Hemisphere's Spring, usually in October. The 21st edition of the Buenos Aires Marathon started on October 9, 2005 at 7 ...

twelve days earlier and was not considered a genuine contender in the race, a pack consisting of

, Geoffrey Kirui, Amos Kipruto, Stephen Mokoka and

formed. David Monti of ''LetsRun.com'' described them as a "pack of six serious contenders". Ayala held a 62-second lead at the point of the race, but later, the margin had been reduced to six seconds. By halfway through the race, Ayala had been caught, and he withdrew from the race soon after. Over the next , Tadese led most of the race. He and Mokoka broke away from the rest a few times, but could not maintain the advantage, and were caught each time. After the race, Desisa said "I controlled everybody and I saved my power." The leading group of six completed the first of the race in 1:33:13, but started to break apart over the next . Kirui was the first to drop away, followed by Tadese. In contrast,

, who had been in ninth place after 30km, closed the gap on the leaders to around 14 seconds by the point. Geremew said that he started to develop

plantar Standard anatomical terms of location are used to unambiguously describe the anatomy of animals, including humans. The terms, typically derived from Latin or Greek roots, describe something in its standard anatomical position. This position prov ...

pain about later and slowed the pace a little, which allowed Hawkins to catch the pack just prior to the point, when he briefly led the race. The pace increased as they approached the end of the race; the 41st kilometre was completed in 2:59. When there was one kilometre left, Desisa increased the pace again, which Hawkins could not match, and the Scottish runner fell back. After the race, he suggested that: "Maybe I just gave too much in the middle stages. But I couldn't do any more." Kipruto was also unable to keep up with the fast finish, and when Desisa accelerated to a sprint for the final , he also broke clear of Geremew to claim the gold medal. He won the race in a time of 2:10:40, four seconds ahead of Geremew. Kipruto held onto third place in 2:10:51, six seconds in front of Hawkins.

Results

The final was started on 5 October at 23:59. The results were as follows:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:2019 World Championships in Athletics - Men's marathon Marathon Marathons at the World Athletics Championships

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

2019 World