Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu, bottom, crosses the finish line ahead of Germany’s Amanal Petros to win the men’s marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu, bottom, crosses the finish line ahead of Germany’s Amanal Petros to win the men’s marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu poses after winning the gold medal in the men’s marathon ahead of Germany’s Amanal Petros at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu, left, crosses the finish line ahead of Germany’s Amanal Petros to win the men’s marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu, bottom, crosses the finish line ahead of Germany’s Amanal Petros to win the men’s marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Monday, Sept. 15, 2025. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
TOKYO (AP) 鈥 They ran for more than two hours and needed a photo finish to determine the winner.
Alphonce Simbu edged out Amanal Petros in the men’s marathon at world championships Monday in a 26.2-mile (42.195-kilometer) race through the streets of Tokyo that came down to a sprint through the homestretch of the track at Japan National Stadium.
鈥淚 have never seen something like this in a marathon,鈥 Petros said. 鈥淚t’s like the 100 meters.鈥
ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW
Closer, in fact.
The difference in the men鈥檚 marathon was 0.03.
The differences in the men’s and women’s 100-meter races Sunday night: .15 and .05 seconds.
It marked the second straight day a marathon was decided with an all-out sprint to the line. The day before, Peres Jepchirchir won the women’s race by 0.2 seconds.
Simbu’s win outdid that. It was the closest marathon in world championships history. Both men were officially clocked at 2 hours, 9 minutes, 48 seconds, with the photo showing Simbu lunging across the line a fraction sooner.
鈥淚t was just try, try, try, and I finished” barely ahead, Simbu said. 鈥淚t is amazing to me. I made history today.鈥
Simbu gave Tanzania its first Olympic or world championship gold in any event.
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