Simbu wins Tanzania’s first international championship after winning the Tokyo Marathon
Alphonce Felix Simbu made history on Monday (15) when he won gold in the men’s marathon at the World Athletics Championships Tokyo 25. He was the first runner from Tanzania to win a global title.
He did it in style, beating Germany’s Amanol Petros in the last few legs to win by just 0.03 points, which was the smallest winning margin ever in a global championships marathon.
As one of only two athletes from Tanzania to compete at the World Championships, Simbu was always in the running. He kicked in the last 30 meters to win, which made the world medal he won in 2017 a gold medal.
“Today is a holiday in Tanzania,” he said. “As a country, we have made new history.” It was my dream. I’m calm. It takes hard work, training, and never letting up.
“This is the second time since 2017 that I’ve tried to win another medal but failed.” Like last year, Paris was hard for me. This year I promised myself I would do my best. In different kinds of weather, I did different kinds of exercise.
Both Simbu and Petros got the same time, which was 2:09:48.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in a marathon. The men’s and women’s races both ended in a sprint.” He said, “It’s like the 100m.”
“I have trained hard for four months by running, eating, and sleeping.” It was tough. This silver, on the other hand, gives me more energy and drive to win bigger events. I was so sure I was going to win that Simbu shocked me. He kicked really hard. I know I lost today, but I know I can win tomorrow. Today is a day for learning.
Aouani from Italy won third place in 2:09:53.
“The way I ran the race made me proud and happy,” he said. But the other guys had more legs than me. I was calm at the end and pushed through. It’s very important. When someone wins a gold, they don’t know how much work went into it. There were a lot of frustrating races and missed chances.
When everyone was together, Kenya’s Vincent Ngetich took the lead right away. He was first over 5 km in 15:22, and runners like Petros, Simbu, Aouani, Abel Chelangat, Isaac Mpofu, Sondre Moen, Suldan Hassan, Deresa Geleta, and Stephen Kissa were close behind.
