By Chang-Ran Kim and Nick Mulvenney
TOKYO (Reuters) - Kenya's Peres Jepchirchir edged Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa in a thrilling sprint finish at Tokyo's National Stadium to win the women's marathon at the world championships on Sunday, adding the world title to the Olympic crown she won in Sapporo in 2021.
The 31-year-old broke the tape at two hours, 24 minutes and 43 seconds, just two seconds ahead of Paris silver medallist Assefa.
In the wide-open battle for bronze, a surprised Julia Paternain triumphed
to give Uruguay its first-ever medal at the worlds, clocking 2:27.23 in her first world championships.
For more than two-thirds of the race, Jepchirchir and Assefa were content to hang back as American Susanna Sullivan charged ahead solo looking dominant and in control.
The tables suddenly turned around 90 minutes in, when Assefa and Jepchirchir pulled ahead to take the lead and stay there side by side for the rest of the course.
It was Assefa, who won the London marathon in April, who looked the more comfortable as the Kenyan appeared to struggle in the stifling Tokyo heat.
Still, Jepchirchir managed to match her rival stride for stride for the remainder of the race, finding one last kick as the pair ran around the National Stadium track to surge ahead and claim her first world title.
"I am so happy with what I have done in Tokyo," Jepchirchir said. "It was so hot, so difficult... When I entered the stadium, I got a lot of energy from the fans.
"I really did not expect to win. It was not my ultimate plan to sprint in the final metres, but when I saw I was 100m from the finish, I just started to kick."
(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; Editing by William Mallard and Shri Navaratnam)
