2025 World Athletics Championships: Two male marathoners cross the finish line at the same time

On the morning of September 15, when looking at the electronic board, fans could not distinguish who was the winner of the men's marathon race, World Athletics Championships 2025.

Simbu finished ahead of Petros by just a hundredth of a second - Photo: REUTERS

Indeed, simply because in marathon, the displayed parameters only count in seconds, instead of percentage (%) of seconds like speed running events.

And so, both Alphonce Simbu (Tanzania) and Amanal Petros (Germany) had the same result of 2 hours 9 minutes 48 seconds in the marathon, which took place on the morning of September 15.

But if you use your naked eye, you will be sure of the winner, it is Simbu, as he touches the finishing tape before Petros.

And with the naked eye, the audience completely witnessed Petros's emotions, lasting about 2 seconds. An extremely precious slow-motion film, showing all the efforts - pushing oneself to the limit, and then the overwhelming disappointment when defeated.

The moment Simbu broke out - Photo: REUTERS

Interestingly, Petros was still leading about 10 meters from the finish line. But Simbu's amazing sprint shocked everyone who witnessed the race.

For a split second, Petros looked at his opponent, tried to accelerate, even jumped to the finish line, but was still defeated. He fell to the ground holding his head after reaching the finish line.

Without looking at the digital clock, the audience can determine the winner and loser by just looking at the naked eye. Athletics can be strange sometimes.

According to ESPN, this is the first marathon in history where the first two finishers have the same number of seconds. This means that this is also the most exciting and dramatic marathon in history.

Despite his disappointment, Petros put on a good show by getting up early and congratulating Simbu. Both were all smiles afterwards.

Petros (right) came to congratulate Simbu - Photo: REUTERS

For Petros, this is the most impressive achievement of his career. The Eritrean (a country near Ethiopia) runner was originally a 5,000m athlete, before switching to the marathon about 3 years ago.

At the age of 2, Petros was taken by his family to Ethiopia as a refugee, and at 17 he followed his family to Germany, starting a late-blooming athletics career. The German athlete is now 30 years old.

Meanwhile, Simbu has long been a famous athlete of Tanzania, with enough class to compete with famous runners from Kenya or Ethiopia. But this is also the first time Simbu has won a gold medal in a major tournament.

Yesterday, September 14, the women's marathon also witnessed a spectacular sprint when Jepchirchir (Kenya) finished with a time of 2 hours 24 minutes 43 seconds, just 2 seconds ahead of Assefa (Ethiopia).

Jepchirchir said that she had absolutely no plan to sprint. But then, in the face of Assefa's brilliance, Jepchirchir had to sprint in the last 200m.

HUY DANG

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/giai-dien-kinh-vo-dich-the-gioi-2025-hai-vdv-marathon-nam-can-dich-cung-luc-20250915094144544.htm