Belgian Runner Bouchikhi Drops Out of Marathon, Misses Tokyo Olympics Qualification

Just like in Rotterdam in 2005, Soufiane Bouchikhi abandoned the race. The FC Liégeois athlete was unable to qualify for the Olympic marathon in Tokyo like his teammates Bashir Abdi and Koen Naert. While he was reassuring about his qualification, the Belgian athlete stopped at the 40th kilometer in 2h05min15sec.

Following the withdrawal of Soufiane Bouchikhi, the Kenyan Evans Chebet won the race in 2h03m, thus achieving the best time of the year and the 6th of all time. He is followed by his compatriot Lawrence Cherono (2h 03m04s) and the Ethiopian Birhanu Legese (2h03m16s).

Belgium prevailed on the women’s side, thanks to Hanne Verbruggen. She wins in 2h 29m14s, exceeding the international minimum by 16 minutes. She beat her own record set in Valencia in December 2019 by nearly... six minutes (2h 35m00s). As for Nina Lauwaert, she had to settle for a time of 2h 34m41s.