We Speak Sports
Tola Smashes Beijing Marathon Record with 2:03:10
Olympic champion Tamirat Tola ran 2:03:10 in Beijing, breaking the course record by nearly four minutes and setting the fastest marathon time ever run in China.
Tamirat Tola did not just win the Beijing Marathon on Sunday, Oct. 18 — he rewrote its history.
The Ethiopian Olympic champion stopped the clock at 2:03:10, destroying the course record of 2:07:06 set by Mathew Kisorio in 2019 by nearly four minutes. It is the fastest marathon ever run on Chinese soil, beating the previous all-comers’ mark of 2:05:35 set by Philimon Kipchumba in Shanghai in 2023.
Tola, 35, is the reigning Olympic champion from Paris 2024 and the 2022 world champion, and he prepared for six months with this record in mind. He won by almost a minute and a half. Muktar Edris was second in 2:04:34 and Adane Kebede Gebre third in 2:05:10 — all three men under the old course record, completing an Ethiopian podium sweep.
In the women’s race, Anchinalu Dessie Genaneh defended her title in 2:20:36, ahead of China’s Cirencuomu and Lu Ying.
More than 265,000 runners applied for the 32,000 places on a course that runs from Tiananmen Square to the Olympic Park. The performance also sends a message for next September, when Beijing hosts the World Championships — Tola has already shown he knows how to win big races in this city.
Photo: Marathon Handbook
We Speak College Football
Saturday of Chaos: Five of the AP Top Seven Fall for the First Time Since 1936
College football has been playing with an AP poll since 1936. It had never seen a Saturday like this one: five of the top seven teams in the country — No. 1 Georgia, No. 2 Notre Dame, No. 5 Indiana, No. 6 Alabama and No. 7 Texas — all lost on the same regular-season day, and the top two teams lost on the same day for the first time since Nov. 17, 2012. For the second straight week, the nation’s No. 1 team fell to an unranked opponent, something that hadn’t happened since 1990.
The carnage: Auburn beat No. 1 Georgia 27-24 in Athens on a field goal as time expired, the Tigers’ first win there in 31 years. BYU toppled No. 2 Notre Dame 28-24 in Provo behind four total touchdowns from Bear Bachmeier, ending the Irish’s 16-game winning streak. Ohio State survived Indiana 19-15 in Bloomington, snapping the Hoosiers’ 22-game winning streak — but lost quarterback Julian Sayin to a shoulder injury. Tennessee’s defense strangled No. 6 Alabama 26-10 in Knoxville, holding the Crimson Tide to 201 yards. And Florida went into Austin and beat No. 7 Texas 27-24 behind first-time starter Tramell Jones Jr.
The survivors: No. 3 Miami needed two overtimes to escape Florida State 43-35 in a rivalry classic. No. 9 Ole Miss routed No. 13 Missouri 31-3, LSU blanked No. 16 Mississippi State 31-0, No. 10 Texas Tech hung 53 on Arizona State, and No. 15 Kentucky rallied to win 21-13 at Oklahoma. Michigan benched Bryce Underwood and still beat Penn State 21-18. Elsewhere, Utah edged Colorado 27-24, UCLA beat Wisconsin 17-7, Houston outlasted Oklahoma State 35-32, SMU topped Virginia 23-13, Wake Forest routed Cal 41-7, Oregon held off Nebraska 17-14, and Washington beat Purdue 38-26 on Friday night.
The new AP Top 25 tells the story of the shakeup: Miami is No. 1 with 40 first-place votes, BYU is No. 2 (20 first-place votes) and Ohio State No. 3 (9). Notre Dame sits fourth, Georgia fifth, Indiana sixth, followed by Ole Miss, Texas Tech, UCLA and Utah. Tennessee climbs to No. 11 and Kentucky to No. 12, while Alabama tumbles to No. 13, LSU rises to No. 18, Texas falls to No. 19 and Florida cracks the poll at No. 20. Missouri (No. 22), SMU (No. 23), Northwestern (No. 24) and Arizona (No. 25) round out the rankings.
Week 8 has a lot to live up to.
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