Wearing “Sir Mo” on his bib and fluorescent green warmers on his arms, Sir Mo Farah, the quadruple Olympic gold medalist on the track, won the 2018 Chicago Marathon in 2:05:11.
Farah looked like he had been running marathons his whole life, tucking in the back of the lead pack and running relaxed until 18 miles, when only six, and then four, men remained. By 24 miles Farah’s only challenger was Mosinet Geremew of Ethiopia, who has a marathon PR of 2:04:00. Farah kept looking over at his competitor, sizing him up.
Related: RW chats post-race blues and training with Mo Farah
With about a quarter mile to go, Farah, 35, made his decisive move, showing the sprint that won him all those gold medals on the track. In winning, he set a European record, Australian teenager runs record-breaking 200m. A version of this article appeared on.
Suguro Osako of Japan was third in 2:05:50. Galen Rupp fell behind the leaders at about 20 miles and finished fifth in 2:06:21.
“I was definitely comfortable from mile 24, so I knew from that point I was just kind of pushing a bit, testing the guys out and figuring out who to go with,” Farah said. “And there was only that guy who went with me, and I didn’t know who he was, so at the time I was just like, make sure I have enough left at the finish line. And then I just got away at the end easily. Definitely had another couple of gears.”
Rupp said he found himself struggling at the fluid station around 35 kilometers, but he did his best to keep contact with the surging pack and get closer over the final miles.
“Obviously my goal was to win, but I ran the best I could today,” Rupp said. “At the end of the day when I got back and look at it, I’m sure there will be some things I can learn from this. I just got to give credit to Mo and all the other guys. They were better today and they ran well.”
He was full of praise for Farah. The two trained together for about five years in Oregon before Farah split from the group in 2017.
“I thought he ran really smart,” Rupp said. “He stayed away from a lot of the big moves in the beginning, and ran very even. And just bided his time, like he did on the track. I wouldn’t expect anything less from him. It has obviously worked very well for him.”
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European Cross Country Championships results Runner's World US.
