Spanish Runner Ayad Lamdassem Stuns with 5th Place Finish in Olympic Marathon

The 39-year-old athlete from Lleida narrowly missed out on the Olympic medal. He finished fifth in the marathon with a performance of 2:10:16, behind Kipchoge, Nageeye, Abdi and Cherono. "I am very happy to have finished fifth in the Games and I would like to thank my family, my coach (Antonio Cánovas) and my manager, Miguel Ángel Mostaza, as well as all the people who supported me. I’ll see you in Paris 2024, where I hope to win the medal," said Lamdassem in a brief interview with RTVE.

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Lamdassem remained in the lead pack during the first half of the race, and even managed to take the lead, before showing signs of fatigue in the final stretch. Despite this obvious fatigue, the athlete, who is in his third Olympic participation (23rd in Beijing 2008 and 24th in London 2012 in the 10,000 meters), and in his first Olympic marathon, was nevertheless not far from his national record (2:06:34), after his poor performances at the Moscow 2013 and London 2017 Marathon World Cups.

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His compatriot Dani Mateo, who is making his first appearance in an Olympic competition, finished 21st with a time of 2:15:21. "It was a very tough experience. I fought a lot. I gave it my all," he said. Another, Javier Guerra, was ranked 33rd with a time of 2:16:42. "I had no luck. At the eighth kilometer, I was hit from behind and I hit my hip and knee. I may have a broken finger. I tried to get back on track mentally, but the final part was difficult for me. I had to make it, these are the Olympic Games," he explained.