The women's

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

was one of the road events at the

2017 World Championships in Athletics The 2017 IAAF World Championships, the sixteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 4 to 13 August at London Stadium in London, United Kingdom. London was officially awarded the championships on 11 November 2011. Bidding p ...

in London. It took place on 6 August 2017 on the streets of London, and consisted of four laps of a roughly course which passed several of London's landmarks. For the first time in World Championships history, the men's and women's marathons took place on the same day. The race was won by

Rose Chelimo Rose Chelimo (born 12 July 1989) is a Kenyan-born Bahraini long-distance runner who competes in road running events up to the marathon distance. She is the 2017 IAAF world champion. She represented Bahrain at the 2016 Summer Olympics, placing ei ...

of Bahrain in 2:27:11, seven seconds ahead of Kenya's

Edna Kiplagat Edna Ngeringwony Kiplagat (born 15 November 1979) is a Kenyan professional long-distance runner. She was the 2011 and 2013 World Champion in the marathon. She established herself as an elite marathon runner with wins at the Los Angeles and Ne ...

in second. Amy Cragg of the United States finished in third, separated from Kiplagat by less than a second. Catarina Ribeiro of Portugal led for the first before relinquishing the lead to Great Britain's Alyson Dixon, who opened up a 30-second lead halfway through the race. She was gradually caught over the next , and a pack of fourteen runners vied for the lead until the point, when Chelimo increased the pace and four runners broke away at the front. Chelimo and Kiplagat battled for the lead of the race, while Cragg and Kenya's Flomena Cheyech Daniel fought for third place. Ultimately, sprint finishes from Chelimo and Cragg secured them first and third respectively.

Qualification

The International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF, now known as

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

) announced the qualifying criteria for the

in March 2016. For the women's marathon, the entry standard was 2:45:00, one minute slower than for the 2015 World Championships, and the same as for the

2016 Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

. Entry criteria had to be met during the qualification period: 1 October 2016, and 23 July 2017, inclusive.

Preview

In November 2016, the marathon route was announced; the course consisted of four laps of a roughly route passing by some of London's historic landmarks. The course started and finished on

Tower Bridge Tower Bridge is a Listed building#Grade I, Grade I listed combined Bascule bridge, bascule, Suspension bridge, suspension, and, until 1960, Cantilever bridge, cantilever bridge in London, built between 1886 and 1894, designed by Horace Jones ...

, travelled along

Victoria Embankment Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment (the other section is the Chelsea Embankment), a road and river-walk along the north bank of the River Thames in London, England. Built in the 1860s, it runs from the Palace of Westminster to ...

along the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

until it reached the

Houses of Parliament The Palace of Westminster is the meeting place of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is located in London, England. It is commonly called the Houses of Parliament after the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two legislative ch ...

, looped away from the river past

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

, before heading back to the

Tower of London The Tower of London, officially His Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress of the Tower of London, is a historic citadel and castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamle ...

. Niels de Vos, the tournament director, said that the route was designed to be as flat as possible to allow for the possibility of fast times, while also aiming to use well-known landmarks to provide "a stunning backdrop to a huge global TV audience". For the first time in the World Championships, the men's and women's marathons were scheduled to take place on the same day; the men's race at 10:55 and the women's at 14:00. The weather was forecast to be between , with a southwesterly wind which ''LetsRun.com'' suggested could be particularly significant on the exposed parts of the route along the river. The race featured ten women who had previously completed sub-2:22 marathons, leading ''LetsRun.com'' to speculate that "You won’t find a deeper marathon on planet Earth this year than the women's race at the 2017 World Championships." They suggested that

of Kenya, Ethiopia's Mare Dibaba and Eunice Kirwa of Bahrain were the favourites for the race. Kiplagat had won the marathon twice before at the World Championships, in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, and had won the

Boston Marathon The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon race hosted by eight cities and towns in greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is traditionally held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the event was ins ...

earlier in the year. Dibaba had raced at the

2017 London Marathon The 2017 London Marathon was the 37th running of the annual marathon race in London, England, which took place on Sunday, 23 April. Mary Jepkosgei Keitany won the women's race, setting a new women-only marathon world record with a time of 2:17:0 ...

, where she did not finish, but was the reigning World Champion, having won in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

. Kirwa had finished second to Dibaba in 2015, and had also been runner-up at the 2016 Olympics. ''

Athletics Weekly ''AW'' (formerly ''Athletics Weekly'') is a monthly track and field magazine published in the United Kingdom by Athletics Weekly Limited. The magazine covers news, results, fixtures, coaching and product advice for all aspects of track and field ...

'' also predicted that Kiplagat and Mare Dibaba would finish in the top-three, but included another Ethiopian, Berhane Dibaba, alongside them.

Mary Keitany Mary Jepkosgei Keitany (born 18 January 1982) is a Kenyan former professional long distance runner. She was the world record holder in a women-only marathon, having won the 2017 London Marathon in a time of 2:17:01. As of November 2022, she ...

, who had broken the women-only marathon world record earlier in the year, did not take part in the World Championships, opting instead to prepare for the

2017 New York City Marathon The 2017 New York City Marathon was the 47th running of the annual marathon race in New York City, New York, which took place on November 5, 2017. The women's race was won by Shalane Flanagan, the first American woman to do so since Miki Gorman in ...

Summary

The race started at 14:00 on 6 August 2017, in temperatures of and a humidity level of 56%. In the opening stages of the race, Portugal's Catarina Ribeiro broke away and led the first of the race, before she was caught by Alyson Dixon of Great Britain. Ribeiro ultimately dropped out of the race, and did not finish. Dixon ran alone at the head of the field, and by the halfway stage she had established a 30-second gap to the pack behind. During the second half of the race, the main group closed the gap on Dixon, narrowing it to 14 seconds by the point, and catching her just before the point. Dixon, who stayed with the leading pack for another before falling back to finish 18th, said after "I never in my wildest dreams expected to be leading. If you can't enjoy running a World Championship in London with that support, what are you in the sport for?" After the pack caught Dixon, Kiplagat initially took on the lead, before Australia's Jessica Trengove took over around the mark. By this stage, the leading group contained fourteen runners, but Chelimo soon increased the pace and split the pack up. A group of four runners broke away at the front: Chelimo; Kiplagat; Amy Cragg of the United States; and Kenya's Flomena Cheyech Daniel. Kiplagat made the next push, and led with just over to go; ''Canadian Running''s Sinead Mulhern compared the finish to that of the Boston Marathon earlier in the year, when Kiplagat had beaten Chelimo in a sprint finish. On this occasion, Chelimo counter-attacked and moved back ahead of Kiplagat, who could not respond; and Chelimo held on to claim the gold medal by seven seconds, in 2:27:11. Behind the pair, Cragg managed a sprint finish to beat Daniel to third place, and almost caught Kiplagat; both runners were credited with a finish time of 2:27.18.

Dagmara Handzlik Dagmara-Anna Handzlik (; born 20 February 1986) is a Polish born Cypriot long distance runner. She competed in the women's marathon at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics. In 2019, she competed in the women's marathon at the 2019 World ...

of Cyprus, who finished 35th in a time of 2:38:52, established a new national record.

Results

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:2017 World Championships in Athletics - Women's 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 ...

2017 World Women's marathons Women's sport in London