Ugandan Victor Kiplangat won the men’s marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest on Sunday after producing a devastating final third to leave his rivals trailing in his wake.
The Commonwealth champion clocked a winning time of 2hr 08min 53sec on the streets of the Hungarian capital after breaking free in the last 15 kilometres. Israel’s Ethiopian-born Maru Teferi followed up on his European silver last year with second place in 2:09.12, while Ethiopian Leul Gebresilase took bronze (2:09.19).
Defending champion Tola Tamira and another Ugandan Stephen Kissa were nearby off 15 seconds. With four kilometres left, Kiplangat broke away from Gebresilase sprinting to the finish line. Meanwhile, Teferi overtook Gebresilase inside the last 400m to bag silver with the Ethiopian only settling for bronze.
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This is Uganda’s second gold medal at the 2023 World Athletics Championships after Joshua Cheptegei’s success in the 10,000m race. For Kiplangat, he added the gold to his cabinet after the 2022 Commonwealth in Birmingham City, United Kingdom (2:10:55) and the 2017 mountain running gold in Premana City.
Ten years ago, Uganda’s Stephen Kiprotich won gold in the World Athletics Championship marathon staged in Moscow, Russia.