Belgian athlete Bashir Abdi won the silver medal at the Olympic marathon in the French capital Paris on Saturday morning.
In a season-best of 2:06:47, Abdi finished 21 seconds behind Ethiopian winner Tamirat Tola, who set an Olympic record by running the marathon in 2:06:26. Bronze went to Kenyan Benson Kipruto in 2:07:00.
On a difficult course starting at the Hôtel de Ville and finishing on the Esplanade des Invalides, after a passage to the Château de Versailles (with 436 altimeters and a gradient of no less than 13.5% along the way), Tola was overwhelmingly the strongest.
On the steepest stretch, some 10 kilometres from the finish, he started a devastating acceleration that no one could follow. The gold was gone, but in the chasing group it was soon clear that it would be between Abdi, Kipruto and Deresa Geleta for silver and bronze.
Second Olympic medal
Geleta could not follow the others, and 35-year-old Abdi won his second Olympic medal of honour, having already taken bronze in Tokyo three years ago.
Two other Belgians finished a bit later: Michael Somers finished in 22nd place in 2:10:32, while Koen Naert finished in 61st place in 2h16:33.
On Sunday, the women’s marathon will be run: Chloé Herbiet and Hanne Verbruggen will start at 08:00 for the same course.
