Geoffrey Kamworor finishes in a disappointing fifth, Ethiopia reigns supreme in marathon once again
Kenya’s hopes of recapturing the world title in the men’s marathon went up in smoke on Sunday afternoon after Geoffrey Kamworor and Brian Kiptum finished 5th and 15th respectively.
With Lawrence Cherono axed from the race two days ago, Kamworor and Kiptum carried hopes of millions of Kenyans but just could not add to the tally recorded on Sunday morning by Hellen Obiri and Margaret Chelimo in the 10,000 metres.
Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola claimed gold in a championship record time of 2:05:36 with compatriot Mosinet Geremew (2:06:44) settling for silver. Belgian marathoner Bashir Abdi(2:06:48) who won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics once again settled for bronze. Canadian Cameron Levins sprinted past Kamworor in the final 50m to settle for fourth in 2:07:09.
What was notable in this race was the high pace and impressive times posted by the top three. Before the race, the championship record stood at 2:06:54 set by Kenyan Abel Kirui in Berlin 2009 and Tola tore it apart as he strolled to gold, a second for Ethiopia in the championships. 
Kenya had sent three marathoners to the Worlds and it was expected that they would team up and recapture the crown they lost in Doha in 2019. However, Lawrence Cherono was provisionally suspended by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) over the use of a prohibited substance in an out of competition test conducted in May.
AIU said the World Anti-Doping agency analyzed the sample received on May 27 and notified the agency of the analytical findings thereby recommending the ban on Cherono.
