2017 World Championships in Athletics – Women's marathon
The women's marathon was one of the road events at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics in London. It took place on 6 August 2017 on the streets of London, and consisted of four laps of a roughly 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) course which passed several of London's famous landmarks. For the first time at the World Championships, the men's and women's marathons took place back-to-back on the same day. The race was won by Rose Chelimo of Bahrain in 2:27:11, seven seconds ahead of Kenya's Edna Kiplagat in second. Amy Cragg of the United States finished in third, separated from Kiplagat by a fraction of a second.
| Women's Marathon at the 2017 World Championships | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Tower Bridge | ||||||||||
| Venue | Along the streets of London, starting and finishing on Tower Bridge | |||||||||
| Date | 6 August | |||||||||
| Competitors | 91 from 46 nations | |||||||||
| Winning time | 2:27:11 | |||||||||
| Medalists | ||||||||||
| ||||||||||
Catarina Ribeiro of Portugal led for the first 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) 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 8 kilometres (5.0 mi), and a pack of fourteen runners vied for the lead until the 35 kilometres (22 mi) 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 World Athletics) announced the qualifying criteria for the 2017 World Championships in Athletics in March 2016. For the women's marathon, the entry standard was 2:45:00,[1] one minutes slower than had been required for the 2015 World Championships, and the same as had been needed to qualify for the 2016 Olympics. Entry criteria had to be met during the qualification period: 1 October 2016, and 23 July 2017, inclusive.[2]
Preview
It was the first time that the United Kingdom had hosted the World Championships in Athletics.[3] In November 2016, the marathon route was announced; the course consisted of four laps of a roughly 10-kilometre (6.2 mi) route taking in some of London's historic landmarks.[4] The course started and finished on Tower Bridge, travelled along Victoria Embankment along the River Thames until it reached the Houses of Parliament, looped away from the river past St Paul's Cathedral, before heading back to the Tower of London. 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".[5]
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.[5] The weather was forecast to be between 14 and 21 °C (57 and 70 °F), with a 18-kilometre-per-hour (11 mph) southwesterly wind which LetsRun.com suggested could be particularly significant on the exposed parts of the route along the river.[6]
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."[6] They suggested that Edna Kiplagat 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 and 2013, and had won the Boston Marathon earlier in the year. Dibaba had raced at the 2017 London Marathon, where she did not finish, but was the reigning World Champion, having won in 2015. Kirwa had finished second to Dibaba in 2015, and had also been runner-up at the 2016 Olympics.[6] Athletics Weekly also predicted that Kiplagat and Mare Dibaba would finish in the top-three, but included another Ethiopian, Berhane Dibaba, alongside them.[7] Mary Keitany, who had broken the women-only marathon world record earlier in the year,[8] did not take part in the World Championships, opting instead to prepare for the 2017 New York City Marathon.[6]
Summary
The race started at 14:00 on 6 August 2017, in temperatures of 19 °C (66 °F) and a humidity level of 56%.[9] In the opening stages of the race, Portugal's Catarina Ribeiro broke away and led the first ten kilometres (6.2 mi) of the race, before she was caught by Alyson Dixon of Great Britain.[10] Ribeiro ultimately dropped out of the race, and did not finish.[9] 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.[10] During the second half of the race, the main group closed the gap on Dixon, narrowing it to 14 seconds by the 25-kilometre (16 mi) point, and catching her just before 30 kilometres (19 mi).[11] Dixon, who stayed with the leading pack for another 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) before falling back to finish 18th,[11] 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?"[12] Kiplagat initially took on the lead, before Australia's Jessica Trengove took over around the 35-kilometre (22 mi) mark.[11] By this stage, the leading group contained fourteen runners, but Chelimo soon increased the pace with a move that split the pack up.[13]
Along with Chelimo, Kiplagat, Amy Cragg of the United States, and Kenya's Flomena Cheyech Daniel broke away at the front.[14] Kiplagat made the next push,[11] and led with just over 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) to go; Canadian Running's Sinead Mulhern compared it to the finish of the Boston Marathon earlier in the year, when Kiplagat had beaten Chelimo in a sprint finish.[10] 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.[11] Dagmara Handzlik of Cyprus, who finished 35th in a time of 2:38:52, established a new national record.[9]
Results
References
- "IAAF releases approved London 2017 World Championships timetable". Athletics Weekly. 10 March 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- "IAAF Announces 2017 World Championships Entry Standards – Which Ones Got Easier and Which Ones Got Harder?". LetsRun.com. 30 November 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- "London beats Doha to stage 2017 World Athletics Championships". BBC Sport. 11 November 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- "Marathon and race walk routes revealed for IAAF World Championships London 2017". World Athletics. 17 November 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- "London 2017 announces iconic marathon and race walk routes". Athletics Weekly. 17 November 2016. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- "2017 Worlds Women's Marathon Preview: Edna Kiplagat Tries to Make History By Winning A Third World Title". LetsRun.com. 1 August 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- "IAAF World Championships London 2017 medal predictions". Athletics Weekly. 3 August 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- Whittington, Jessica (23 April 2017). "Mary Keitany breaks women-only marathon world record in London". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- "Results: Marathon Women – Final" (PDF). IAAF. 6 August 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- Mulhern, Sinead (6 August 2017). "Amy Cragg makes history at World Championship marathon; Rose Chelimo earns gold in crazy dramatic 42.2K battle". Canadian Running. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- Rowbottom, Mike (6 August 2017). "Report: women's marathon – IAAF World Championships London 2017". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- Spall, Leo (6 August 2017). "Amy Cragg ends U.S. women's marathon drought with thrilling bronze". ESPN. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- "Chelimo stops Kiplagat from making marathon history". Yahoo Sports. 6 August 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- Douglas, Scott; Butler, Sarah Lorge; Dennehy, Cathal; Strout, Erin; Nolan, Ali (11 August 2017). "What Happened Today at the 2017 World Track & Field Championships". Runner's World. Retrieved 1 July 2020.