Luke Kibet Wins 2007 World Champs in the Marathon Japan Threepeats in Team Title By LetsRun.com Aug 24, 2007 *Results (US visitors Watch the Worlds Live for $4.95 for the entire World Champs)
Until Saturday Luke Kibet of Kenya was a virtual unknown. That all changed Saturday morning in the high heat of Osaka as Kibet dominated the 2007 World Championships in the marathon.
The temperature was story of the day in Osaka. Osaka is hot and humid to begin with but the weather on Saturday was a scorcher. It was 82 degrees at the start, despite the 7 am time, and by the end it was 90 degrees.
The warm weather led to what would normally be considered a super slow pace, as 29 runners were still together at the half way point which was reached in 1:08:29.
Kibet was the only runner able to pick up the pace in the second half. By 35k the pack was down to 5: Kibet, ex countryman Mubarak Hassan Shami (the guy who put up his hands too early at the World Half Marathon Champs in 2005 and had to finish 2nd (letsrun recap and video of that here)), Yared Asmerom of Eritrea, Samson Ramadhani of Tanzania and William Kiplagat of Kenya with Viktor Rothlin of Switzerland still close by.
The rest of the way it was all Kibet as he moved to the front during the 19th mile and cruised to the victory. He was looking back occasionally. As he continued to move away from the field it was apparent he was looking back to see why no one was coming with him. Kibet cruised to the victory in 2:15:59 as he ran the second half of the race a minute faster than the first and would finish 1:19 ahead of 2nd.
Shami and Kiplagat were battling for the 2nd spot for a while but then Shami began to move ahead as Kiplagat began struggling in the heat very badly (at the finish of the race, Kiplagat stopped virtually on the finish and it was almost like he wasn't sure if he had finished or not. He then took one more step and just stood there and medical personal rushed to him).
Viktor Rothlin of Switzerland (who has run 2:08) who had been with Asmerom moved up to get the bronze.
The Japanese contingent ran a very strong steady race and Tsuyoshi Ogata closed super fast to get 5th in 2:17:42 and was followed by his teammates Satoshi Osaki in 6th and Toshinari Suwa in 7th as Japan easily won the World Marathon Cup team title. It was Japan's third straight team title and a fitting consolation prize before the home crowd.
The accolades however go to the victor and Luke Kibet joins the rank of great Kenyan marathoners. Kibet's biggest victory previously was the Vienna City Marathon (2:10:07 in April this year). Before that he was most known for winning the Taipai marathon. Hardly the stuff legends are made of. That all changed on Saturday.
*** The US Men finished a very respectable 4th in the team competition.
More Coverage and Results: *400+ posts Message board post with live by play *Amy Shipley Recap from Wasington Post Talks about the American men led by Mbarak Hussein finishing a very respectable 4th in the team competition. Plus it talks about Fernando Cabada falling to the ground in the press area. *US Men Get 4th *IAAF Recap of Race *Associated Press Recap *Results
1 15 Luke Kibet KEN 2:15:59 . 2 4 Mubarak Hassan Shami QAT 2:17:18 . 3 9 Viktor Röthlin SUI 2:17:25 . 4 73 Yared Asmerom ERI 2:17:41 . 5 29 Tsuyoshi Ogata JPN 2:17:42 (SB) 6 30 Satoshi Osaki JPN 2:18:06 (SB) 7 14 Toshinari Suwa JPN 2:18:35 (SB) 8 10 William Kiplagat KEN 2:19:21 . 9 49 Janne Holmén FIN 2:19:36 . 10 22 José Manuel Martínez ESP 2:20:25 . 11 59 Dan Robinson GBR 2:20:30 . 12 47 Alex Malinga UGA 2:20:36 . 13 33 Tomoyuki Sato JPN 2:20:53 . 14 8 Gashaw Asfaw ETH 2:20:58 . 15 79 Ju-Young Park KOR 2:21:49 . 16 56 Mike Fokoroni ZIM 2:21:52 . 17 18 José Ríos ESP 2:22:21 (SB) 18 60 José de Souza BRA 2:22:24 . 19 81 Seteng Ayele ISR 2:22:27 (SB) 20 66 Ali Mabrouk El Zaidi LBA 2:22:50 . 21 45 Mbarak Kipkorir Hussein USA 2:23:04 (SB) 22 50 Alberto Chaíça POR 2:23:22 (SB) 23 70 Mike Morgan USA 2:23:28 (SB) 24 76 Young Chun Kim KOR 2:24:25 . 25 27 Samson Ramadhani TAN 2:25:51 . 26 65 Myongseung Lee KOR 2:25:54 . 27 2 Hendrick Ramaala RSA 2:26:00 . 28 82 Chia-Che Chang TPE 2:26:22 . 29 75 Khalid Kamal Yaseen BRN 2:26:32 (SB) 30 28 Getuli Bayo TAN 2:26:56 . 31 12 Dejene Birhanu ETH 2:27:50 (SB) 32 72 Kyle O'Brien USA 2:28:28 (SB) 33 64 Wei Su CHN 2:28:41 (SB) 34 85 Wodage Zvadya ISR 2:29:21 . 35 54 Luís Feiteira POR 2:29:34 . 36 32 Haiyang Deng CHN 2:29:37 (SB) 37 86 Ulrich Steidl GER 2:30:03 . 38 17 Ambesse Tolosa ETH 2:30:20 . 39 78 Michael Tluway Mislay TAN 2:30:33 . 40 83 Asaf Bimro ISR 2:31:34 . 41 53 Yousf Othman Qader QAT 2:32:00 . 42 44 Paulo Gomes POR 2:32:02 . 43 51 Zhuhong Li CHN 2:32:44 . 44 42 Rachid Kisri MAR 2:32:57 . 45 25 Abderrahime Bouramdane MAR 2:33:26 . 46 35 Pablo Olmedo MEX 2:33:40 . 47 90 Marcel Tschopp LIE 2:33:42 . 48 67 Antoni Bernadó AND 2:34:28 . 49 71 Longyun Ren CHN 2:35:22 . 50 40 Fernando Cabada Jr USA 2:35:48 (SB) 51 62 Peter Riley GBR 2:36:00 (SB) 52 41 Laban Kagika KEN 2:37:13 . 53 93 George Mofokeng RSA 2:40:22 . 54 61 Rito Regules MEX 2:45:26 . 55 87 Ser-Od Bat-Ochir MGL 2:49:06 (SB) 56 43 Mitsuru Kubota JPN 2:59:40 . 57 88 Tumi Malefetsane LES 3:03:47 . . 91 Patrick Dupouy PYF DNF . . 63 Geovanni Santos BRA DNF . . 92 Zongamele Dyubeni RSA DNF . . 80 Amos Masai UGA DNF . . 69 Yunshan Zheng CHN DNF . . 48 Francis Kirwa FIN DNF . . 38 Abdulhak Elgorche Zakaria BRN DNF . . 84 Abdil Ceylan TUR DNF . . 58 Joachim Nshimirimana BDI DNF . . 89 Nelson Cruz CPV DNF . . 52 Juan Gualberto Vargas MEX DNF . . 26 Gudisa Shentema ETH DNF . . 36 Khalid El Boumlili MAR DNF . . 74 Martin Beckmann GER DNF . . 23 James Mwangi Macharia KEN DNF . . 24 Migidio Bourifa ITA DNF . . 19 Tesfaye Tola ETH DNF . . 68 Óscar Martín ESP DNF . . 11 Laban Kipkemboi KEN DNF . . 37 Norman Dlomo RSA DNF . . 55 Iaroslav Musinschi MDA DNF . . 94 Bethuel Netshifhefhe RSA DNF . . 7 Hicham Chatt MAR DNF . . 21 Hélder Ornelas POR DNF . . 5 Abderrahim Goumri MAR DNF . . 77 Takhir Mamashayev KAZ DNF . . 1 Julio Rey ESP DNF . . 34 Pavel Loskutov EST DNF . . 16 Luís Jesus POR DNS . . 57 Simeon Kiplagat Sawe USA DNS .
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