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 ...

event at the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

started at 06:00 on 7 August 2021 in

Sapporo is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in Hokkaido, Japan. Located in the southwest of Hokkaido, it lies within the alluvial fan of the Toyohira River, a tributary of the Ishikari River. Sapporo is the capital ...

. Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya won gold in 2:27:20 followed by world record holder and Kenyan teammate

Brigid Kosgei Brigid Jepchirchir Kosgei (born 20 February 1994) is a Kenyan long-distance runner who specialises in the marathon. She won the 2018 and 2019 Chicago Marathons, the 2019 and 2020 London Marathons and the 2021 Tokyo Marathon. Kosgei was the m ...

with silver, and American Molly Seidel winning the bronze medal in her third-ever marathon. The race was moved north, from

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

to Sapporo because the latter is on average cooler in August, as decided in 2019 by the IOC. The start had been moved an hour earlier to 06:00 for the same reason. The two cities turned out to have almost the same temperature, as Sapporo recorded at 06:00 when the race started and at 08:30. The gifts for the competition were presented by

Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British sports administrator, former politician and retired track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, incl ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

; World Athletics President.

Background

This was the 10th appearance of the event, having appeared at every Olympics since 1984.

Qualification

This was the 10th appearance of the event, having appeared at every Olympics since 1984. Eighty-eight athletes competed. A

National Olympic Committee A National Olympic Committee (NOC) is a national constituent of the worldwide Olympic movement. Subject to the controls of the International Olympic Committee, NOCs are responsible for organizing their people's participation in the Olympic Games ...

(NOC) could enter up to three athletes in the women's marathon if all athletes met the entry standard or qualify by ranking during the qualifying period (the qualification period for "Entry Standard" (2:29:30) was from 1 January 2019 to 31 May 2021, with a maximum quota per NOC of 3.). The limit of 3 has been in place since the 1930 Olympic Congress. The standard was "set for the sole purpose of qualifying athletes with exceptional performances unable to qualify through the IAAF World Rankings pathway." Runners in the top 10 at the 2019 world championship, the top 5 at any IAAF Gold Label marathon, and the top 10 at the Marathon Major Series were deemed to have met the qualifying standard, regardless of actual time. The world rankings, based on the average of the best five results for the athlete over the qualifying period and weighted by the importance of the meet, will then be used to qualify athletes until the cap of 80 is reached. More than 80 athletes (after application of the 3 per NOC rule) have met the qualifying standard. To be a qualifying performance, the course had to have been certified in the last five years by a Grade A or Grade B road course measurer. In order to be eligible for the qualifying standard time, the elevation decrease could not be more than 1 metre per kilometre. For world rankings, the elevation decrease could exceed that rate, but a correction would be made to the score. The qualifying period was originally from 1 January 2019 to 31 May 2020. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the period was suspended from 6 April 2020 to 30 November 2020, with the end date extended to 31 May 2021. The world rankings period start date was also changed from 1 January 2019 to 1 December 2018. The qualifying time standards could be obtained in various meets during the given period that have the approval of the

IAAF 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 ...

. The most recent Area Championships may be counted in the ranking, even if not during the qualifying period. In July 2020, World Athletics announced that the suspension period would be lifted for the road events (marathons and race walks) on 1 September 2020. NOCs can also use their universality place—each NOC can enter one female athlete regardless of time if they had no female athletes meeting the entry standard for an athletics event—in the marathon.

Women's Marathon

The 2016 Olympics champion Kenyan Jemima Sumgong did not defend her title due to a doping suspension.

Competition format and course

As for all Olympic marathons, the competition is a single race. The marathon distance of 26 miles, 385 yards (42.195 kilometers) was run over a course that started with two laps around Odori Park. The route next made a large loop (about half the marathon's length) through the streets of

, passing by Nakajima Park, Sapporo TV Tower, and

Hokkaido University , or , is a public research university in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan. Founded in 1918, it is the fifth-oldest government-authorised university in Japan and one of the former Imperial Universities. The university finds its roots in Sapporo A ...

, and crossing the

Toyohira River The is a river in Hokkaido, Japan. It is 72.5 km in length and has drainage area of 894.7 km². It is a tributary of the Ishikari River. It supplies water to Sapporo city, the capital of Hokkaidō built on the alluvial fan An all ...

twice. The race then took two laps around a smaller (approximately ) section of the large loop. The finish line was back at Odori Park.

Records

The existing world, Olympic and area records were left untouched by this race due to its harsh conditions:

Schedule

All times are

Japan Standard Time , or , is the standard time zone in Japan, 9 hours ahead of UTC (UTC+09:00). Japan does not observe daylight saving time, though its introduction has been debated on several occasions. During World War II, the time zone was often referred to a ...

( UTC+9) The women's marathon took place on a single day.

Results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics - Women's marathon Women's marathon Marathons at the Olympics

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

Women's marathons Women's events at the 2020 Summer Olympics

Olympics The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a variety of competit ...