“I grabbed everything that fell at the water points. Liters water over my head, bags of ice in my top and sponges. I think I had the best cooling strategy of all, because I wasn’t hot,” said the 31-year-old athlete, who finished seventeenth in a time of 2.32.27.
Anne Luijten happy with 17th place
“I doubted this spring after the Rotterdam marathon if I would walk one, because I was half dead there. But I didn’t want the chance to walk on the World Cup,” she said. “And if the athletics union broadcasts you, I think you should really go for it and have to perform. For that reason I am super happy with a place in the top 20. It is much better than my fiftieth place in the Paris Olympic Games.”
Medal candidates Niels Laros and Nadine Visser convince at the Athletics World Cup
Luijten made her round through the stadium to the finish a waving moment. “If you have waived two and a half hours, it is best to enjoy the last thirty seconds. The audience went well.”
Peres Jepchirchir takes gold
The Kenyan athlete Peres Jepchirchir took the world title on the marathon. The 31-year-old African sprinted in the last meters away from her Ethiopian co-flight star Tigst Asfa. Her winning time in the Japan National Stadium was 2.24.43. Assefa finished second in 2 seconds. The Uruguayan Julia Paternain won the bronze in 2.27.23.