Best Marathon Finish? Alphonce Felix Simbu uses ALL-TIME kick to win 2025 World Championships marathon

TOKYO — For the first time in 10 years, World Athletics placed the finish line of the World Championships marathon inside the stadium.

Good decision.

On Sunday, Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir came from behind with 100 meters to go to run down Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa in the dramatic women’s race. Somehow, the men topped that on Monday as Tanzania’s Alphonce Felix Simbu overcame a five-meter deficit in the home straight to pip Germany’s Amanal Petros with a lean that any sprinter would be proud of. And he needed it, because the men’s marathon, a 26.2-mile footrace, featured a closer finish than the women’s 100-meter final, won by Melissa Jefferson-Wooden on the same track just 11 hours earlier. Both men were credited with times of 2:09:48, but it was Simbu who earned the gold — the first for Tanzania in any event at a World Championships or Olympics.

Just look at this. Marathon finishes do not get any closer.

Another sprint finish in the marathon and this time a photo finish!

🥇Congrats to Alphonce Simbu (Tanzania) 2.09.48
🥈Amanal Petros (GER) 2.09.48
🥉Iliass AOUANI (ITA) 2.09.53@EuroAthletics repping! #WorldAthleticsChamps pic.twitter.com/DBLF8DejEr

— Katharine Merry (@KatharineMerry) September 15, 2025

With hot, humid conditions in Tokyo (80 degrees Fahrenheit, 72 dew point), the lead pack remained large deep into the race, with 39 men passing halfway within three seconds of the leaders (65:19) and 14 men still in the group at 35k. By the time they entered the National Stadium, the pack was down to three: Simbu, the 2017 bronze medalist; Petros, last year’s Hannover Marathon champion; and Italy’s Iliass Aouani, who won the marathon at the European Running Championships in April.

Simbu and Petros shook free from Aouani on the back straight, which set the stage for their incredible finish. Aouani finished 3rd in 2:09:53. Just like yesterday’s bronze medalist in the women’s race, Uruguay’s Julia Paternain, Aouani ran in the NCAA, and just like Paternain, he never quite reached his full potential there.

The similarities between the two are striking. Both ran at two schools (Penn State and Arkansas for Paternain, Lamar and Syracuse for Aouani). Both qualified for exactly one NCAA championships on the track but finished well down the field (Paternain was 22nd of 24 in the 5,000 in 2018; Aouani was 20th of 24 in the 10,000 in 2019). And both ran at the NCAA Cross Country Championships three times and never cracked the top 100 (Paternain’s best finish was 125th in 2018, Aouani’s best was 128th in 2016). But both decided to push on after college and now have another thing in common: World Championships medalist.

Clayton Young finished as the top American in 9th in 2:10:43, matching his place at last year’s Olympic marathon in Paris. The other American finishers were Reed Fischer (28th, 2:15:17) and CJ Albertson (40th, 2:19:25).

2025 Worlds Men’s Marathon Results