Julia Paternain wasn’t sure where she had finished after a punishingly hot women’s marathon at these World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. So, as she crossed the line, she asked an official.
The answer had Paternain, the world’s 288th-ranked marathon runner, staring back at him in disbelief. She had won a bronze medal, Uruguay’s first ever at a world athletics championships.
“Usually in races, you have people yelling at you: ‘You’re this position, you’re this position,’” explained Paternain, who was raised in Britain and won two English schools championships. “But everything was in Japanese, so I had no idea where I was.”
Several minutes ahead of her, the Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir had beaten the Ethiopian Tigst Assefa, in a thrilling finish. So Paternain was completely alone on the track as she crossed the line at the National Stadium.
“When I came on to the track, I couldn’t see a soul,” she admitted. “I had no idea where I was. I knew I was top eightish, I was too scared to look behind me because I didn’t want to get caught. I was trying to check with the officials that it was definitely the finish. And I didn’t really want to think that there was a medal, just in case there wasn’t. I’m just in shock, really.”
Jepchirchir crossed the line in two hours, 24 minutes and 43 seconds, adding the world title to the Olympic crown she won in Sapporo in 2021, just two seconds ahead of Assefa, who won silver at the Paris Games last year.
Meanwhile Paternain worked her way steadily through the field from about 12th at halfway to finish third in 2:27.23. “It was my second marathon, and to be honest,” she said. “I was just trying to get from A to B and get to the finish line without my legs giving way.”
Peres Jepchirchir crosses the line to win the marathon ahead of Tigst Assefa. Photograph: Dylan Martinez/Reuters
Paternain was born in Mexico to Uruguayan parents but moved to England when her father taught mathematics at Cambridge University. The 25-year-old was raised and went to school in the city, before moving to the US to study at the University of Arkansas.
She also represented Britain, and finished sixth over 10,000m in the European under-23 championships in 2019, until switching allegiances to Uruguay in January.
“I grew up in England but my whole family is from Uruguay,” she added. “It’s a small country and I think it gets forgotten about a bit. But it has a lot of pride and it means a lot for me to represent Uruguay.”
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