Molly Seidel of the United States celebrates as she crosses the finish line to win the bronze medal in the women’s marathon on Saturday in Sapporo, Japan. Shuji Kaiyama/Associated Press
SAPPORO, Japan — Peres Jepchirchir led a 1-2 Kenyan finish in the women’s marathon, withstanding the heat and humidity while running through the streets of Sapporo.
Jepchirchir crossed the line in a winning time of 2 hours, 27 minutes, 20 seconds Saturday in a race moved up an hour to avoid the heat. A smattering of fans lining the course applauded as the Tokyo Games went north for the marathons and race walks. Her teammate Brigid Kosgei was second and American Molly Seidel, a relative newcomer to the marathon stage, took home the bronze. Seidel is just the third American woman to medal in the Olympic Marathon, joining Mainer Joan Benoit Samuelson, who won the inaugural women’s marathon in 1984, and Deena Kastor, who won bronze in 2004.
A race that was moved to Sapporo to avoid the extreme heat and humidity in Tokyo found little relief on a winding course through the city. The starter’s gun went off a minute after 6 a.m. local time under sunny skies and with a temperature reading of 77 degrees Fahrenheit. It climbed to nearly 86 degrees near the finish, with a humidity of around 65%.
There were 88 runners entered in the field and more than a dozen recorded a did not finish. That included world champion Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya. The weather appeared to take its toll on Lonah Salpeter of Israel late in the race. Among the final four with around four kilometers to go, she suddenly stopped and walked to the side of the road. She still finished.
Seidel pretty much forecasted this day since she was a kid. On Instagram, she wrote: “Other kids wanted to be astronauts or firefighters; I wanted to be a runner. Even on the hardest days I try to remember how blessed I am to do the thing my 10-yr-old self only dreamed about.”
She screamed when she crossed the finish line and said “Hi, Mom and Dad,” into the camera.
Volunteers wearing yellow shirts stood along the course with signs that loosely translated into: “Refrain from watching here.” But spectators lined the course anyway, sneaking a rare glimpse of the action at these Olympics where fans have been shut out due to coronavirus restrictions.
The runners tried to stay cool any way possible. Aleksandra Liswoska of Poland grabbed an entire bag filled with water at one stop, quickly drinking one and then pouring another over her head. Andrea Deelstra of the Netherlands had a bag of ice perched on top of her head.
Aliphine Tuliamuk of the United States was returning after giving birth to her daughter in January. She didn’t finish.
Some of these competitors got a taste of the furnace-type heat and humidity at the 2019 world championships in Doha. That race was run at midnight and the temperature still hit 88 degrees. It led to nearly 30 runners not getting to the finish line as Chepngetich captured gold.
Chepngetich was in the mix until late in the race when she began walking.
FRIDAY’S EVENTS
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Soon after the U.S. women finished off Serbia to reach the Olympic gold medal game, members of the Japanese military honor guard started practicing for the medal ceremony.
The U.S. already knows that drill.
Brittney Griner had 15 points and 12 rebounds to help the Americans beat the Serbians 79-59 on Friday to advance to title game.
“This is exactly where we want to be,” said Breanna Stewart, who also had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. “Everything is on the line. We’re going to do what we can to make sure we come home with a gold.”
The Americans are now one win away from a seventh consecutive gold medal which would match the U.S. men’s team that won seven Olympic titles in a row from 1936-68.
It would also give Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi five gold medals — the most ever by a basketball player in the Olympics. The Americans will face Japan on Sunday. The teams played in the preliminary round and the U.S. won 86-69. Japan beat France 87-71 in the semifinals, assuring the host nation its first medal ever in women’s basketball.
“I think everybody here wants to win gold for them, for us, for everybody that’s started this streak that got us here,” Griner said. “You know there’s a lot of different reasons why we want to win this gold medal. So I think you’re going to see some really good basketball in the gold medal game.”
The U.S. got a scare when Taurasi, grimacing and appearing to rub her left hip after collision, left the game midway through the third quarter. U.S. trainer Ed Ryan was talking with Taurasi when she went to the bench and she didn’t return. Taurasi missed the three exhibition games in Las Vegas with a hip pointer but appeared to moving without any issues during timeouts.
WOMEN’S SOCCER: Christine Sinclair finally has her title.
The 38-year-old, long-time captain of the Canadian team has more international goals than any other player, male or female. But a major tournament championship had eluded her.
Until now.
Canada clinched the Olympic gold medal by winning a penalty shootout 3-2 against Sweden after a 1-1 draw in Friday’s final at the Tokyo Games.
It was the first major tournament title for the Canadians, who were the bronze medalists at London in 2012 and at Rio de Janeiro five years ago.
“I mean, it even looks prettier,” Sinclair said, holding up the gold medal.
Canadian goalkeeper Stephanie Labbe stopped Jonna Andersson in the shootout to make way for Julia Grosso, a 20-year-old player for the University of Texas, who beat Sweden goalkeeper Hedvig Lindahl to win it.
The Canadian players mobbed Grosso on the field, and Sinclair raised her arms in victory before leaping atop her teammates.
“I honestly cannot even believe what just happened,” said Sinclair, who has 187 career goals. “For the last 40 days, we had a goal to come in here and change the color of the medal and we landed on top of the podium. Just such an honor to be part of this group.”
It was the second consecutive silver medal for the Swedes, who were also aiming for their first title in a major tournament. They lost 2-1 to Germany at Rio in 2016.
WOMEN’S BEACH VOLLEYBALL: The U.S. team of April Ross and Alix Klineman won gold in beach volleyball.
Ross and Klineman swept Australia 21-15, 21-16 in 43 minutes. For Ross, the gold completes a set. She won silver in London in 2012 and bronze in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Klineman won gold in her first Olympics.
“It’s kind of a fairytale story like, ‘Oh, you know I’m going at 39 to try and get my gold medal,’ and the fact that it actually happened feels so special and surreal,” Ross said.
The U.S. women’s volleyball team avenged a gold-medal match loss to Serbia in 2016 with a 25-19, 25-15, 25-23 victory that sends them back into the final against Brazil, which beat South Korea in straight sets in the other semifinal. The Americans have made three previous gold medal finals, but have never won.
GOLF: American Nelly Korda finished with 12 straight pars for a 2-under 69 to maintain her overall lead in pursuit of the gold medal in women’s golf at Kasumigaseki Country Club. She had a three-shot lead over Aditi Ashok of India, who had a 68.
And for now, there will be a final round. Olympic golf officials plan to start play as early as possible Saturday and take advantage of a window they hope is big enough to squeeze in 72 holes before a forecasted tropical storm.
WRESTLING: American Gable Steveson defeated Georgia’s Geno Petriashvili 10-8 to earn wrestling gold in the men’s freestyle 125-kilogram class. Georgia challenged the final points, to no avail. Steveson, as is customary after his biggest wins, celebrated with a backflip.
Steveson scored on a spin-behind takedown with 10 seconds remaining, then another with less than a second remaining for the win.
BOXING: Heavyweight Julio César La Cruz won Cuba’s third gold medal in boxing in a final 5:0 victory over Russian athlete Muslim Gadzhimagomedov. La Cruz won the eighth heavyweight gold medal for the vaunted Cuban team, but the first since Odlanier Solis claimed the glamour division’s title in 2004.
RACE WALK: Dawid Tomala of Poland won what might be the last 50-kilometer race walk at the Olympics. Tomala won in 3 hours, 50 minutes and 8 seconds in Sapporo for the gold medal. He won only the second 50-kilometer race he had ever completed.
The 50-kilometer walk has been dropped from the schedule for the next Olympics in Paris in 2024 and may not return. It was first introduced at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics and has been held at every Games since with the exception of Montreal in 1976.
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