World Championships: Men's marathon
The first World Championships marathon in 1983 was a quality race, although two of the three fastest marathoners in the world, Carlos Lopes and Alberto Salazar, opted for the 10,000m.
In the 16th mile, three Africans broke 100 metres clear but the pack swallowed them up by 30km. Commonwealth champion Rob de Castella was the favourite and he made a move on the hill at around 35 kilometres, which only Ethiopia’s Kebede Balcha matched. In the last 3km, the Australian moved away on his own and he won by 24 seconds. Balcha took silver, making him the only African medallist in any event in Helsinki. Double Olympic champion Waldemar Cierpinski outsprinted veteran Kjell-Erik Stahl for bronze. London Marathon winner Mike Gratton dropped out and the previous London winner, Hugh Jones, was the leading Briton in eighth.
Yet Jones had an even better run in Rome four years later, finishing fifth, just 14 seconds away from a medal. The winner was then the relatively little known Kenyan Douglas Wakiihuri, who put in a fast 15:13 5km after 35km to win easily by 42 seconds from Djibouti’s Ahmed Salah. Future Olympic champion Gelindo Bordin was third.
Salah was second again in Tokyo in a very hot and humid race. Making the most of home advantage, Hiromi Taniguchi, who had tried continually to put in surges, made a break in the final 3km. His face contorted in agony, he won clearly by around half a minute. American Steve Spence, who had been only 26th at halfway, finished strongly to become a very surprising bronze medallist.
There were more surprises for American supporters in Stuttgart in 1993. Namibian Luketz Swartbooi put in a big burst midway and was a minute clear at 30km. South African-born Mark Plaatjes was 90 seconds down on Swartbooi at 35km but he finished much the stronger to catch his rival one kilometre out and give USA the gold. Conditions were again tough and just the three medallists broke 2:17. Former world record holder Steve Jones was the only British finisher in 13th.
The organisers weren’t out to make it easy in Gothenburg in 1995 as the race started at the hottest part of the day at 2pm. Mexican Dionisio Ceron looked to be heading to victory when he broke clear in the last few miles, but
European champion Martin Fiz put in a furious 14:48 5km up to 40km and eventually won by more than half a minute as Ceron faded. Fourth in the race of his life and producing what is still unsurpassed as Britain’s best ever performance at the World Championships marathon was the totally unregarded Peter Whitehead as the more favoured Richard Nerurkar finished seventh.
In 1997 the venue was the famous course in Athens. Spain dominated with a one-two and they won the World Cup team competition by a huge 12 minutes. Fiz just missed out on becoming the first double champion as his team-mate Abel Anton used his 3:37 1500m speed to outkick him. A minute back, Steve Moneghetti was a clear third in his fifth World Championships marathon.
Two years later in Seville, Anton did what Fiz couldn’t do and defended the marathon as he ran his first marathon in Spain. At almost 37 years of age, he became the oldest IAAF champion at a running event.
No Britons were selected and that was also the case in Edmonton in 2001, which attracted an entry of 100, reflecting a poor standard in British marathoning but also an elitist selection policy as only 15 of the 100 entries broke 2:20 and there were plenty of British athletes who could have achieved that. The race was held with the opening ceremony and was the most exciting finish yet to a major championships marathon.
Having won in Sydney in 2000, Gezahegne Abera became the first Olympic champion marathoner to win the world title but it took a 44.7 last 300m on the track to beat Simon Biwott by a second with 2:12:42 – respectable considering the heat and some altitude.
Conditions were favourable in Paris in 2003 and the result of a fast 63:45 second half was that Moroccan Jaouad Gharib’s winning 2:08:31 was the fastest ever summer championship marathon. The first six broke 2:10 but the big surprise was the capitulation of Kenyan and Ethiopians, who had a best of just eighth and had seven drop-outs between them. Stefano Baldini won his second successive bronze medal.
Kenya and Ethiopia were again outperformed in Helsinki in 2005. Japan won the World Cup team event by eight minutes from Kenya and, although Ethiopia were third, all their runners finished behind Briton Dan Robinson, who was 12th.
Gharib defended the title in 2005 from Tanzanian Christopher Isegwe. After some faster marathons, there was little chance of good times in Osaka in 2007 with high humidity and the temperature hitting 33 degrees. Luke Kibet became the slowest ever winner and the only runner to break 2:17. Clocking 2:15:59, his winning margin of 79 seconds was also a record. Robinson again excelled to finish 11th but the humidity again favoured the Japanese, who won the team event by a massive 17 minutes from Korea.
The conditions were much more favourable on a fast, flat city course in Berlin and in a Kenyan-dominated event Abel Kirui won in a sparkling 2:06:54 from teammate Emmanuel Mutai.
Kirui defended his title in Daegu in 2011. He put in a staggering 14:18 5km from 25km and won by the astonishing margin of around two and half minutes. Despite conditions being far from ideal, Kirui won in 2:07:38 and, as Kenya had four of the first six, they won the team event by almost 12 minutes.
Kenya didn’t dominate the 2013 race in Moscow and failed to place a single runner in the top eight. Uganda’s Olympic champion Stephen Kiprotich won an exciting race as Ethiopia finished second to fourth. Again there were no British marathoners in the race.
Year | Winner | Time | Top Brit
1983 Rob de Castella (AUS) 2:10:03 8th Hugh Jones 2:11:15
1987 Douglas Wakiihuri (KEN) 2:11:48 5th Hugh Jones 2:12:54
1991 Hiromi Taniguchi (JPN) 2:14:57 12th Sam Carey 2:20:03
1993 Mark Plaatjes (USA) 2:13:57 13th Steve Jones 2:20:04
1995 Martin Fiz (ESP) 2:11:41 4th Peter Whitehead 2:14:08
1997 Abel Anton (ESP) 2:13:16 17th Dave Buzza 2:20:34
1999 Abel Anton (ESP) 2:13:36 No competitors
2001 Gezahegne Abera (ETH) 2:12:42 No competitors
2003 Jaouad Gharib (MAR) 2:08:31 Matt O’Dowd dnf
2005 Jaouad Gharib (MAR) 2:10:10 14th Dan Robinson 2:14:26
2007 Luke Kibet (KEN) 2:15:59 11th Dan Robinson 2:20:30
2009 Abel Kirui (KEN) 2:06:54 No competitor
2011 Abel Kirui (KEN) 2:07:38 15th Dave Webb 2:15:48
2013 Stephen Kiprotich (UGA) 2:09:51 No competitor
Top points (8 for 1st etc)
1. KEN 70
2. JPN 65
3. ETH 58
4. ESP 51
5. ITA 48
6. MAR 26
12. GBR 12
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