India's Gopi Thonnakal and Kheta Ram made dramatic turnarounds in the final 10 kilometers of the men's marathon to finish 25th and 26th respectively. Nitendra Singh Rawat finished 84th.
Kenya's Eluid Kipchoge made a lung-bursting final surge to clinch gold with a time of 2:08:44. Ethiopia, who have traditionally done well in this event, won the silver, thanks to Feyisa Lilesa with a time of 2:09.54. The surprise package came in the form of United States' Galen Rupp, who walked away with the bronze with a time of 2:10.05.
The Indian contingent took their own time to get off the blocks. At the 5 km mark, Thonnakal was at the 73rd position, Rawat was 77th, and Ram 83rd. Great Britain's Callum Hawkins shot to the lead at this stage and stayed there for a considerable amount of time before finally finishing ninth. Thonnakal made a surge at this stage while Rawat and Ram were still struggling near the bottom of the pack. Gopi was placed at the 56th position after the 15 km mark.
At the 30 km mark, Thonnakal had covered a lot of ground and jumped from the 52nd spot to the 39th. Ram had also improved on his time and moved to 52nd, but Rawat slipped to a lowly 93rd. Going into the last 10 km, Thonnakal and Ram both made fantastic turnarounds. Thonnakal went from 39th to finish 25th, while Ram jumped from 52nd to finish 26th.
Unfortunately, Rawat could not complete a similar turnaround and finished 84th. It was still a creditable performance from India at the marathon, which had 155 runners in all, 15 of whom could not complete the race.
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