With a stellar last two miles, Jemima Sumgong became the first Kenyan woman ever to win the Olympic marathon. Eunice Kirwa of Bahrain and defending world champion Mare Dibaba started the move at 22 miles into the race, but Sumgong finished it. Sumgong ran 2:24:04, nine seconds ahead of Kirwa; Dibaba took bronze seventeen seconds behind Kirwa.

Earlier this year, Sumgong won the London Marathon.

FULL PHOTO GALLERY | RESULTS

Shalane Flanagan hung in the lead pack of six women for over two hours, but was felled by the move 2:03 into the race. She finished sixth in 2:25:26, an improvement on her 10th-place finish in London.

Behind Flanagan, her teammates Desi Linden and Amy Cragg were seventh and ninth. Linden ran a steadily-paced 2:26:08, while Cragg finished in 2:28:25 and out-kicked a pair of North Koreans to squeeze into the top ten.

Only Ethiopia and Bahrain put two athletes in the top ten; no other country had three.

Countries to put 3 women in Olympic marathon top 9:

Japan (2004)
U.S. (2016)

— Nick Zaccardi (@nzaccardi) August 14, 2016

Sumgong is clearly the best marathoner in the world right now. Dibaba was widely regarded as the best marathoner in the world in 2015, and Sumgong beat her handily for wins in London in April and Rio today. It's the first women's marathon Olympic gold for Kenya; oddly enough, Kenya also has only won one men's marathon gold. 

Though it was a historic day for Kenya, Sumgong carried the entire load. Her two teammates finished 86th and dropped out.

There were minor fluctuations among the leaders, but the pace was mostly steady for the first 35 kilometers. Former race walker and possible Liliya Shobukhova pupil Volha Mazuronak pushed off the front occasionally, but was unable to drop Flanagan or any of the five East Africans.

The first seven 5Ks were 17:23, 16:59, 17:21, 17:24, 17:00, 17:14, and 17:10 before Dibaba and Kirwa started hammering 2:03 or so into the race. That move culled the lead back from seven to three, dropping Flanagan, Mazuronak, Tirfi Tsegaye of Ethiopia, and Rose Chelimo of Bahrain. Right around 24+ miles, Sumgong took the lead, with Dibaba a meter back and Kirwa another meter back. But at 2:20, Sumgong threw down, and the race was over. Kirwa gamely hung in for second. Sumgong covered the distance from 35K to 40K in 16:31, and her last 1.35 miles in 7:02. After running 5:25ish pace for two hours in the heat, Sumgong cranked it down to 5:15 and then 5:10 pace for the last four and a half miles of the race.

Temperatures rose into the mid-70s over the course of the race, and there was ample gameswomanship at the water stations. Most of the water stops featured a surge up front that made it look like the pack was breaking up, only to see the accordion tighten minutes later.



Flanagan, Linden, and Cragg were aggressively staying cool, often hanging on to their water bottle for minutes at a time and repeatedly wringing sponges over their heads. It paid off with three top-ten finishes and a particularly entertaining race from Linden. The 33-year-old repeatedly appeared to be dropping off, only to rejoin the pack several times in the first 100 minutes of the race; it was an optical illusion, as Linden was evenly pacing herself while the leaders were surging and slowing.

Today was the ninth women's marathon in Olympic history. Only Joan Benoit's 1984 gold and Deena Kastor's 2004 bronze were better than Flanagan, Linden, and Cragg's single-digit finishes today, though Flanagan was tenth behind at least one convicted doper at the last Olympics. Flanagan and Cragg are currently training partners with the Bowerman Track Club, while Linden and Cragg were roommates and teammates at Arizona State.