Athletics – World Athletics Championships – Doha 2019 – Men’s Marathon – Doha, Qatar – October 6, 2019 Ethiopia’s Lelisa Desisa celebrates winning gold REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
October 5, 2019
DOHA (Reuters) – Lelisa Desisa ended an 18-year wait for Ethiopia when he triumphed in a sprint finish against compatriot Mosinet Geremew to win a midnight marathon at the world athletics championship on Sunday.
On another stifling Doha evening, five runners were still in with a shout with two kilometers left before Desisa and Geremew finally wore them down and broke away, with Desisa winning in two hours 10.40 minutes. Amos Kipruto of Kenya took bronze.
As with the other road races, the event started just before midnight to escape the worst of the heat and humidity. Conditions were less brutal than previously, although it was still 29.09 Celsius with 48.6 percent humidity at the start, organizers said.
Desisa, silver medalist in Moscow six years ago, became the first Ethiopian to win the title since Gezahegne Abera in 2001. Since then, the race has been won four times by Kenya, twice by Morocco and once each by Eritrea and Uganda.
(Writing by Brian Homewood; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
