Peres Jepchirchir out-kicked Tigist Assefa to win gold in Tokyo with a surprise bronze going to little-known Uruguayan runner with links to Britain, Mexico and the US.

When Julia Paternain entered the stadium in third place in the World Championships marathon on Sunday (Sept 14), she was overcome with feelings of disbelief and then jubilation when it she realised she had won one of the most unexpected medals in World Champs history.

“I had no idea I was in third,” she said. "I also wasn't sure that was the finish line. I truly cannot believe it.”

Within moments fans from multiple countries were trying to claim a bit of her. Born in Mexico, she moved to England when she was two years old and grew up racing on the British distance running circuit for Cambridge & Coleridge. She went to study in the United States at Penn State and University of Arkansas, spent some time in California “having a break and working things out” and has recently been based at altitude in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Her tight-knit family is from Uruguay, though, and this is why the blue and white flag of the South American country will be raised when she attends what is certain to be an emotional medals ceremony.

As Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya sprinted to victory in 2:24:43, a couple of seconds ahead of runner-up Tigist Assefa of Ethiopia, Paternain coolly picked off rivals in the latter stages to surge into third place, finishing in 2:27:23.

In warm, humid conditions, Susanna Sullivan of the United States was fourth in 2:28:17 and Alisa Vainio of Finland fifth in 2:28:32. In ninth, the Irish veteran Fionnuala McCormack clocked 2:30:16 at the age of 40 to make the top 10.

The big story of the race, though, was Paternain’s surprise medal. When she moved into a medal position, suddenly everyone was asking ‘who is Uruguayan runner and where has she come from?’

She explained: “I’m from all over! I have three passports and a green card!”

All of her dozen-strong family are from Uruguay with most of them still living there. She trains under coach Jack Polerecky from the McKirdy group in the United States, but running-wise she enjoyed her early years in the UK where she was trained by Mark Vile in the east of England.

When she placed a modest 106th in the English Schools Cross Country Championships in Blackburn in 2015, who would have thought she would make a World Champs podium 10 years later?

In 2017 she won the English Schools 3000m crown, before winning the same title again in 2018 in addition to Home Nations International cross country gold. Certainly, her Power of 10 profile is as long as your arm and her name has appeared in the pages of AW many times.

 

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Her time in England then drew to a close when she finished sixth for Britain in the 10,000m at the 2019 European Under-23 Championships in Sweden, where she was a team-mate of athletes like Jemma Reekie and Emile Cairess among others.

Moving to the United States, she enjoyed a good but unspectacular college career before taking some time out. On her return she realised she was more successful at longer distances and ran a Uruguay record of 2:27:09 on her marathon debut at the McKirdy Micro Marathon event in New York in March this year.

In Tokyo she came in with modest expectations. “When I spoke to my coach he said we have three goals. The C goal was finish the race because it was extremely hot and humid. The B goal was maybe top 30 and then A goal was top eight.”

At halfway she was 16th in 74:00 but 62 seconds behind the leaders. “I just thought ‘okay, click off 5:30-something (miles) and just keep going. You know, there's going to be hills at the end of the last 5km so try and just pick people off as it goes.

“I think I just kind of ran my own race and somehow ended up with a bronze. I remember Molly Seidel when she got third at the Olympics and kind of no one really knew that she was going to get third. This kind of felt similar.”

Paternain initially had no idea she was in third, though. “I had no clue,” she admitted. “Around halfway there was like a pack of maybe 10 -15 women ahead of me and slowly that pack started to break up and I was just trying to make sure that each of my miles was consistent and I knew that if I stayed consistent that everyone around me could do whatever they wanted, I didn't really care and I was just gonna run my own race and then wherever I finished was wherever I finished.

“When I got into the stadium, I thought I was maybe like on a sixth, fifth, something like that. So when I finished, I could not believe it. I was terrified that wasn't even the finish line.

“Even though there were signs everywhere that said, “400m to go”, I didn't trust them. I think one of the officials told me I was third.

For the runner who once represented Britain on the track, what does it feel like to now win a global medal for Uruguay?

“Uruguay is such a small country,” she says. “It’s three million people, it's tiny. So it really means a lot, and it's a very proud country and everyone back home is sending me messages full of support.”

And with that she was off to do interviews in Spanish for the South American media.