Paris Olympics: Benson Kipruto wins marathon bronze as Kipchoge fails to finish

Benson Kipruto added to Kenya’s medal count at the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympics with a precious bronze medal in a blistering men’s marathon on Saturday.

The 33-year-old, making his international debut for Team Kenya, braved a tough course in the Parisian streets to come home third in an impressive time of 2:07.00, which was 34 seconds behind the overall champion, Tamirat Tola, who cut the tape in Olympic record time of 2:06.26.

Belgium’s Abdi Bashir, who was third in Tokyo three years ago, improved to a silver medal position, coming in second and clocking a season-best time of 2:06.47.

Tola’s time eclipsed the 2:06:32 record set by Kenyan Samuel Wanjiru at the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

Kipchoge fades off to DNF

Perhaps surprisingly, Kenya's main man Eliud Kipchoge failed to live up to his pre-race expectations, as he failed to appear at the race finish line, officially ending his quest for a Olympics marathon three-peat.

Things began looking ominous for the 39-year-old as soon as the leading pack hit the 15km mark, as it was when Kipchoge began drifting away and backwards.

At the 19km mark, Kipchoge had dropped from eighth to sixteenth, and showed signs of fatigue when the cameras pointed at him clutching at his left hip.

Tola's pace upfront didn't help the fastest man on the field, as he dropped to a shocking 58th position at the half-way mark timing 1:06.07, which was a minute and 16 seconds behind the leader.

It was when questions arose of his ability to mount a comeback, more so when his time at the 25km mark was two minutes adrift.

Kipchoge's morning took a turn to the worst, when it was finally confirmed that he had aborted his race just after the 30km mark, timing 1:39.38, and in position 71.

Kipruto impresses on Team Kenya debut

With Kipchoge's 'historic day' ending in devastating fashion, Kenyans will perhaps take pride in the performance of their own, Benson Kipruto, who stayed to the course and bagged Kenya's seventh medal at the Paris Games.

Taking a rather conserved approach at the start, Kipruto, who was surprisingly making his major international debut for Kenya, maintained his positioning near the lead pack as he always placed inside the top 15 runners at the 5km splits, clocking 1:05.01 at the half-way mark.

The second half of the race was Kipruto's best, as he slowly made gains on the men in front of him - Emile Cairess, Akira Akasaki and Tanzania's Alphonce Simbu - to move into fourth with seven kilometers to go.

By then, Tola, world champion in 2022, was out and ahead of the park, having made a killer of a split in the 25km mark, when he went all out in the punishing 172m sharp ascent.

At the 40km mark, Kipruto had already gotten rid of Ethiopia's Deresa Geleta, and was within touching-distance of second-placed Bashir.

The chase however looked to be tough for Kipruto, as he had to settle for bronze, but with a second-half split and performance that justified his selection in the Kenyan team.

Kenya's other runner Alexander Mutiso came home 21st in a time of 2:10.31.

LIVE BLOG: Benson Kipruto scoops bronze as Kipchoge is denied historic triple