Tamirat Tola kicked off Saturday’s medal rush in the men’s marathon, crossing the line in an Olympic record time of two hours six minutes 26 seconds to secure Ethiopia’s first gold of the Games.

The 32-year-old finished 21 seconds in front of Belgium’s Bashir Abdi, with Kenya’s Benson Kipruto 13 seconds further back in third.

It is Tola’s first Olympic gold, adding to the 10,000m bronze he won at Rio 2016, and his 2022 World Championship marathon title.

Great Britain’s Emile Cairess was in medal contention at one point, holding second position after around 30km, but faded during the latter part of the race before fighting back to claim fourth.

Cairess’ time of 2:07:29, which was 29 seconds behind bronze medallist Kipruto, was Team GB’s best Olympic marathon finish for 20 years.

Kenyan great Eliud Kipchoge’s attempt at winning an unprecedented hat-trick of Olympic marathon titles ended in disappointment as he did not finish the race.