Elite Brazil twice collapsed when racing marathon
Do Nascimento took the lead right from the start. The Brazilian runner completed the first half of the New York City Marathon in 1 hour 2 minutes 22 seconds.
An impressive start made him expected to break the record of the tournament, which has existed for the past 17 years - 2 hours 5 minutes 6 seconds set by Geoffrey Mutai since 2005. Do Nascimento himself also set a personal record ( PR) is better than this milestone, with 2 hours 4 minutes 51 seconds when finishing third at the Seoul Marathon on April 17.
But Do Nascimento only kept the pace 2:57 (2 minutes 57 seconds per kilometer) with the advantage of leaving the chasing group more than 2 minutes to the 24th kilometer, and then started to slow down. At the 29th kilometer, it took him nearly 20 seconds to stop at a toilet along the way. At about 32 kilometers, Do Nascimento even had to stop, then walk a distance. At the 34th kilometer, he suddenly slowed down, staggered off the track and fell on his stomach forward.
While the medical staff did not have time to arrive, the police on duty on the side of the road joined Do Nascimento to help. At the same time from behind, Kenyan Evans Chebet took the lead and finished first with a time of 2 hours 8 minutes 41 seconds.
The incident caused Do Nasccimento to give up. The organizers then announced that the 24-year-old runner was fine with medical care. According to Marca, this runner collapsed due to dehydration and cramps - the phenomenon of "hit the wall" that occurs when the body exceeds the tolerance threshold because it has to constantly exercise at high intensity.
This is the second time in two years Do Nasccimento "hit the wall" like this. At the Tokyo 2020 Olympics on August 8, 2021, the Brazilian runner also had a similar problem. He even gave up earlier because he collapsed at the 25th kilometer, while leading the race with Eliud Kipchogoe - who finished first.
Like the incident in Tokyo last year when the temperature reached 32 degrees Celsius and high humidity, the weather in New York yesterday was also not favorable for the athletes. Temperatures reached 23 degrees Celsius - unusually high compared to any other year, making this year's event the hottest New York City Marathon since 1986.
Do Nascimento was originally a football player, but switched to athletics in 2013, starting with the distances of 3000m, 1500m, 5000m and 10,000m. From 2020, he switched to long running and achieved much success. Because Nascimento only ran a full marathon (42.195km) from 2020, reaching 2 hours 6 minutes 11 seconds in Valencia in 2021, then 2 hours 4 minutes 51 seconds in Seoul earlier this year.
