Marathon, Women

The years since the 1988 Olympic marathon had seen numerous women win major races. Grete Waitz continued to win, taking her ninth New York title in late 1988, but by 1992, she was on the downside of her career. Defending champion Rosa Mota won at Tokyo in November 1988, defeating the GDR’s Uta Pippig. In 1989, Norway’s Ingrid Kristiansen, who had passed on the Seoul marathon, won at both Boston and New York. Mota continued to win, taking Osaka and Boston in 1990 with Pippig winning the Berlin race in September. Poland’s Wanda Panfil also came to the fore, winning the Nagoya race in 1990, Boston in 1991, and the World Championships in 1991 as well. Mota won the 1991 Marathon World Cup in London, while the 1991 New York race was won by Britain’s Liz McColgan in her marathon début.

So who would it be at Barcelona? The answer is none of the above, and in fact, because of injuries only Wanda Panfil among the above favorites even toed the line at Barcelona, but she would finish only 22nd. The race was eventually won by Valentina Yegorova, representing the Unified Team, by only eight seconds over Japan’s Yuko Arimori. Barcelona was Yegorova’s 14th career marathon, but only her second win, although she had finished second to Rosa Mota at the 1990 European Championships. She would later win the prestigious Tokyo race in 1993 and 1994. Arimori was running her fourth career marathon, but had never won. After the 1992 Olympics, she took a hiatus from competition, returning in 1995 to win the Sapporo marathon.