Simbu snatches world marathon gold from Petros in historic photo finish

Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbu claims win by 0.03secs

Final sprint ended with tighter result than 100m finals

One of the most dramatic finales in marathon history ended with one athlete at these Tokyo World Athletics Championships diving for the line, another unsure of the result, and Seiko’s photo-finish machine being called into emergency action.

And after 26.2 miles, and more than two hours of sweat and brutal toil, the print confirmed that Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbu had pipped Germany’s Amanal Petros in a sprint finish.