Callum Hawkins equalled the best performance by a British male runner in the marathon at a world championships as the 25-year-old finished fourth in yesterday’s race. He then said that he hopes Mo Farah will get a view of his back when the country’s greatest distance runner switches to road running full time next year.
Geoffrey Kirui won the race, the fifth time that a Kenyan has won the world championships marathon, finishing on Tower Bridge in 2hr 8min 27sec, clear of Tamirat Tola, of Ethiopia. The bronze medal went to Alphonce Simbu, of Tanzania, just 26 seconds in front of Hawkins, who recorded a personal best of 2:10:17. It was the best finish by a male British runner in the event since Peter Whitehead came fourth in Gothenburg 22 years ago.
Farah is likely to take part in the top big-city marathons in the coming years, but Hawkins said that he was up for the challenge to be Britain’s No 1. “It is exciting times for British marathon running but hopefully Mo will be seeing my back,” Hawkins said.
“Obviously Mo is a world-class athlete and hopefully it will be a good head-to-head and bring some more attention to British marathon running, which is really exciting.”
Hawkins finished ninth in the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro last year and he made clear that his main target remained championships, rather than city marathons. “I feel I can compete. I’m only 25, so give me a few more years to be at my peak,” Hawkins said. “It’s on to the Commonwealth Games now and then it’s all about the Olympics in Tokyo. I wanted to sneak a medal and to see the bronze medallist ahead of me as I was finishing was a bit tough to take. I gave it everything and I couldn’t do any more.
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“I wanted that medal, I knew I could be close and it was always in my mind.
“There were some quality athletes out there and usually some of the big guys don’t turn up in the big championship marathons, but they all did unfortunately.”
British marathon men
Hawkins equalled the fourth place of Peter Whitehead in 1995
2011 David Webb: 15th
2007 Dan Robinson: 11th
2005 Dan Robinson: 12th
1997 Dave Buzza: 17th
1995 Peter Whitehead: 4th; Richard Nerurkar: 7th
1993 Steve Jones: 13th
1991 Sam Carey: 12th
1987 Hugh Jones: 5th
1983 Hugh Jones: 8th
Andrew Davies was the second British runner home in 31st place, in 2:17:59, while Josh Griffiths was 39th in 2:20:06. Griffiths, who qualified for the World Championships as the second British finisher at the London Marathon in April, said that the race had been the best two and a bit hours of his life.
“It is phenomenal to have people like Callum and now Mo show that we can challenge anyone in the world,” Griffiths said.
“As someone who looks up to both of them, it is fantastic to see them running so well. Next stop is a bit of recovery and then it is back to training again.”