Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge wins second straight Olympic marathon gold medal

Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge won the men’s marathon at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics on Sunday morning (Saturday night in the United States), cruising to victory ahead of everybody else in the field. He finished the race in 2:08.38, which was more than a minute faster than the next best runner. Dutch runner Abdi Nageeye won silver with a time of 2:09.58 and Belgium’s Bashir Abdi won bronze with a time of 2:10.00. Abdi finished .02 seconds ahead of Kenya’s Lawrence Cherono.

The win marked Kipchoge’s second consecutive Olympic gold medal. Kipchoge has spent much of his international career running the 5,000 meter race. In 2016 at Rio, he moved up to the marathon and took gold with a time of 2:08:44. He holds the marathon world record with a time of 2:01.39, which he set at the 2018 Berlin Marathon.

Coming into the race, Kipchoge was a heavy favorite to win at DraftKings Sportsbook, installed at -200. Cherono followed him at +350. Americans on the odds board included Galen Rupp (+3500), Abdi Abdirahman (+6500), and Jacob Riley (+10000). Rupp finished in ninth place with a time of 2:11.41 five years after winning bronze in Rio.