Sapporo (Japan) (AFP)

Alone in the world on the asphalt of Sapporo, the Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge triumphed at the end of the Olympic marathon on Sunday morning, as five years earlier in Rio.

What to enter a little more into the legend.

A thousand kilometers north of Tokyo, where the road races were relocated in search of milder weather conditions - which, to a certain extent, ended up being the case on Sunday morning - Kipchoge won in solitary in 2h 8 min 38 sec.

The glance backwards which he threw in the last hectometers was quite superfluous as he dominated the race.

More than a minute behind, at the cost of a breathtaking final sprint, the Dutchman Abdi Nageeye (2: 09.58) and the Belgian Bashir Abdi (2h10: 00) deprived Kenya of a new double the day after that achieved in the women's marathon.

At 36, Kipchoge thus becomes the third runner to win the Olympic marathon twice in quick succession, after the Ethiopian Abebe Bikila (1960 and 1964) and the East German Waldemar Cierpinski (1976 and 1980).

- "Martian" -

In control of the race until the approach of thirty kilometers - you should have seen him quietly chatting and exchanging a check, all smiles, with a Brazilian rider a little before the halfway point - the world record holder (2:01 : 39 in Berlin in 2018) then played his opponents in two stages.

At the 28th kilometer, his first acceleration reduced the leading group to around ten riders.

The 30th passed, his second was fatal, and no one was able to stay in the wake of his aerial stride and his flamboyant jersey with a traditional pattern in Kenyan colors, red, green and black.

Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge during the Tokyo Olympic Games marathon, August 8, 2021 in Sapporo Charly TRIBALLEAU AFP

"When he left, I said to myself 'He's a Martian, + he's on another planet,' Nageeye smiles.

Kipchoge then took off: from around twenty seconds to attack the 35th kilometer, he increased his lead to more than a minute in the fortieth.

About two hours earlier, the start of the marathon - also the kickoff of the final day of the Tokyo Games - had been given at 07:00, as expected, under 26 degrees and 80% humidity.

Conditions a little less hot than the previous days, but still trying for the organisms in spite of everything.

The first damage did not take long to occur.

Ethiopian Shura Kitata, winner of the London marathon at the end of 2020 - Kipchoge's first defeat in seven years - and one of the favorites, cracked from the ninth kilometer, his thigh clearly painful.

The Ugandan Stephen Kiprotich, Olympic champion 2012, around the tenth.

- "Refrain from looking" -

Then after a little over an hour, came the turn of another Ethiopian, Sisay Lemma.

The third player, Lelisa Desisa, did not resist the first boost brought by the future winner.

Kenenisa Bekele, whose duel with Kipchoge made all running enthusiasts salivate, was not selected.

Frenchman Nicolas Navarro made a stunning comeback to finish 12th (2:12:50).

Morhad Amdouni, who remained in the lead until the 30th kilometer, finished 17th (2:14:33).

Frenchman Nicolas Navarro during the Tokyo Olympic Games marathon, August 8, 2020 in Sapporo Charly TRIBALLEAU AFP

Now four times Olympic medalist in as many editions (bronze in 2004 and silver in 2008 over 5,000 m, and marathon gold in 2016 and 2020) and already a marathon legend, also spent under 2 hours during an unofficial marathon in 2019 , how far will Kipchoge go?

"The future will tell us, he philosopher. For now, I will enjoy my victory in Tokyo."

Throughout the course, as for all the races contested in Sapporo, dozens and dozens of volunteers, t-shirts and yellow caps, invited passers-by, with a sign around their neck, to "refrain from looking", to continue to watch. to be in motion.

Difficult in front of a runner of such stature.

© 2021 AFP