It was a nice party, even if some had it a bit bad. Sunday, in Paris, a 5 km race allowed 1000 amateur runners to win their ticket for the “Marathon for all” of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. For that, we had to resist the return of the 42 km star, Eliud Kipchoge , launched behind the peloton. While many participants managed to beat the Kenyan, others complained of unfairness in the race. Indeed, the riders claiming to be the fastest did not start with enough lead over the world record holder to hope to overtake him at the finish.
A great joy with all runners on the Champs-Élysées in Paris this morning.
It was so good to meet you all on the way, and for the ones I didn't see: many congratulations with your bib for the 2024 Paris Marathon Pour Tous. @ Paris2024 @NNRunningTeam pic.twitter.com/LYhoue0amN
- Eliud Kipchoge - EGH🇰🇪 (@EliudKipchoge) October 31, 2021
Explanation: depending on what they considered to be able to achieve as the time, the riders started again in 5 starting gates, slower or faster, starting with a decreasing lead time over Kipchoge.
The problem, according to several riders, is that the time handicaps have apparently been miscalculated by the organization.
Thus, those of airlock 4 and 5, which started 16 and 19 minutes after those of the first airlock respectively, had at the start only four and one minute ahead of Kipchoge, who therefore swallowed them in just a few kilometers.
Should he lie about his abilities?
Florent Hélaine, reporter for Le Parisien and “challenger” of Kipchoge, evoked this injustice in his report: “Around me, among the disappointed, it rattles. Resisting Eliud Kipchoge seemed impossible for those starting in the last positions. “I was one of them. Kipchoge took the start just after. It only took him 200m to catch up with me, ”said one participant. In the end, the “winners of the day” all, or almost all, belong to the pelotons which declared to run in less than 12 km / h. Should he declare himself worse than he is, in order to leave with enough advance? "I admit, that's what I did, loose a young man, qualified t-shirt in his hands. This bib, I wanted it. "
To make up for it, the Paris 2024 organization has finally announced 400 new bibs for the 2024 Paris Marathon for All to drafted runners.
“After studying the race times, the handicap of the last SAS was too difficult,” explains the official Games account.
Based on the times achieved, Paris 2024 has decided to award 400 new bibs to the fastest SAS 4 & 5. "