History for Tanzania as Simbu delivers first ever WA Championship gold
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Reading Time: 2min | Mon. 15.09.25. | 04:35
The Kenyan, led by early leader Ngetich, faltered to extend Kenya's wait for the Marathon title to a decade.
Alphonce Felix Simbu made history in more ways than one when winning the men's marathon at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo on Monday, 15 September, morning.
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Not only did he become the first athlete from Tanzania to win a global title, he also achieved the smallest winning margin ever in a global championships marathon, having outsprinted Germany's Amanol Petros in the closing stages to finish just 0.03 ahead.
FIRST EVER GOLD FOR TANZANIA 🏆
— World Athletics (@WorldAthletics) September 15, 2025
Alphonce Simbu grabs his country's first ever title at the #WorldAthleticsChamps after a surprise surge in the final metres of the marathon 🤩
Both him and 🇩🇪's Amanal Petros clock 2:09.48 for 1st and 2nd with 🇮🇹's Iliass Aouani coming in 3rd 🙌 pic.twitter.com/1I5qDoffY4
It was only in the closing kilometres that the large lead pack whittled down to just a handful of contenders.
With one kilometre to go, Simbu and Petros ran alongside Uganda's Abel Chelangat, Italy's Iliass Aouani, and Israel's Haimro Alame. By the time they reached the stadium, it was down to three men: Petros, Simbu and Aouani, in that order.
With 200 metres to go, Petros started kicking for home and appeared relatively safe in the lead. But in the closing 30 metres, Simbu started closing in and the Tanzanian caught his German rival just before the line. Both men were credited with times of 2:09:48. Aouani came through to take bronze in 2:09:53.
Simbu, who won bronze at the 2017 World Championships in London, improved to gold to become his country's most established athlete globally. His medal is an improvement for Tanzania who before now boasted Christopher Isengwe's silver as their best ever outing in the competition.
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