TOKYO - Kenya's Peres Jepchirchir produced a dramatic, lung-busting final 100m sprint to outpace Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa for gold in the women's marathon at the world championships in Tokyo on Sunday.
The pair were neck-and-neck coming into the National Stadium after 41km run around the streets of Tokyo, the pace acclerating all the time.
Jepchirchir, grimacing, tried to pull away, but former world record holder Assefa bolted down the back straight.
Then, come the home straight, somehow the 31-year-old Kenyan found enough resources to battle back past her stuttering Ethiopian rival for a breathless gold.
Jepchirchir, Olympic champion at the same venue in the Covid-delayed 2021 Olympics, timed 2hr 24min 43sec for victory, edging Assefa, a two-time winner of the Berlin Marathon who won London earlier this year with a world-leading 2:15:50, by just two seconds.
"I am so happy with what I have done in Tokyo," beamed Jepchirchir. "It was so hot, so difficult, but I managed it. It was not easy.
"When I entered the stadium, I got a lot of energy from the fans. I really did not expect to win. It was not my ultimate plan to sprint in the final metres, but when I saw I was 100m from the finish, I just started to kick. I found some hidden energy there."
Jepchirchir added: "Despite running a lot of marathons in my career, I am so grateful for this one because I was not expecting the victory.
"This is my first championships and I feel grateful that it happened in Tokyo because I won my first marathon gold medal in Japan at the Olympics.
"This one was tougher. The humidity was so high and I did not know it would be so hot. I still have a long way to go. I will work extra hard. This makes me believe myself more and more."