Galen Rupp wins bronze in second-ever marathon in Olympic double

Marathon ?#Rio2016 pic.twitter.com/Q6T9lxR4Wq

— SPIKES (@spikesmag) August 21, 2016

Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge is finally an Olympic champion at 31. One of the all-time greats, who has run 2:03:05 in his career, won the marathon in Rio on Sunday morning in 2:08:44. It was his first win at the Olympics during his illustrious career after first becoming prominent in 2003.

Ethiopia’s Feyisa Lilesa was second in 2:09:54. American Galen Rupp was third in 2:10:05. Canadian Eric Gillis had a superb run for 10th. Reid Coolsaet was 23rd as both Canadians finished in the top-25. See the FULL Canadian recap here.

Rupp, 30, had already run the men’s 10,000m earlier on in the Olympics. Rupp finished fifth in the 10,000m in 27:08.92, four years after he won Olympic bronze in the distance event. Kipchoge and Lilesa were running with fresh legs as the marathon was their sole focus at the Rio Games.

RELATED: Inside Lanni Marchant’s historic double and Krista DuChene’s Olympic marathon glory.

The group was down to four at the 32K mark including Eliud Kipchoge, Galen Rupp and Feyisa Lilesa. The eventual podium winners were clear of the field for the final 10K of the Olympic marathon as the pace increased as the kilometres ticked away.

The three leaders dropped a 14:25 5K between 30-35K, which if held for the course of the marathon, would be 2:01:50 pace. At the 35K mark, Kipchoge became frustrated with the Ethiopian, Lilesa, who was clipping his heels and took off. He never looked back from there.

That last 5km split at 2:01:40 marathon pace, so you know why it's cracked everyone. And now Lilesa too. Kipchoge is gone, Lilesa chasing!

— Ross Tucker (@Scienceofsport) August 21, 2016

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