Morocco’s El Idrissi Smashes Women’s Marathon World Record on Last day of Paralympic Games

Morocco's Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi wins the women's marathon T12 at the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Morocco's Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi wins the women's marathon T12 at the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
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Morocco’s El Idrissi Smashes Women’s Marathon World Record on Last day of Paralympic Games

Morocco's Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi wins the women's marathon T12 at the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)
Morocco's Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi wins the women's marathon T12 at the 2024 Paralympics, Sunday, Sept. 8, 2024, in Paris, France. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

Morocco’s Fatima Ezzahra El Idrissi has smashed the world record in the women’s marathon for runners with visual impairments on the last day of the Paralympic Games, The AP reported.

The 29-year-old El Idrissi finished in 2 hours, 48 minutes and 36 seconds on Sunday, beating the previous record from Japan’s Misato Michishita in Hofu City in December 2020 by nearly 6 minutes.

Compatriot Meryem En-Nourhi was just over 9 minutes behind, followed by Elena Congost of Spain, with Michishita fourth, almost 15 minutes behind the winner.

Tunisia’s Wajdi Boukhili won the men’s T12 marathon.

The 25-year-old Boukhili finished in 2 hours, 22 minutes and 5 seconds, ahead of Spain’s Alberto Suarez Laso and Paralympic record holder El Amin Chentouf of Morocco. All three ran season-best times.

Swiss wheelchair racers Catherine Debrunner and Marcel Hug won the women’s and men’s marathons for the T53/54 catagories.

Debrunner, the world record holder, finished in 1:41:50, more than four minutes ahead of Australia’s Madison de Rozario and the United States’ Susannah Scaroni, who took silver and bronze, respectively.

Tatyana McFadden, the most decorated American wheelchair racer, was seventh, just over 12 minutes behind Debrunner. The 35-year-old leaves Paris with a silver medal from the 100 and bronze from the 4x100 universal relay.

Hug won the men’s race in 1:27:39, ahead of China’s Jin Hua and Tomoki Suzuki of Japan.

More medals were to be awarded later Sunday before what artistic director Thomas Jolly said would be a huge dance party at Stade de France for the closing ceremony.

The United States women’s wheelchair basketball team was to play defending champion Netherlands for gold, and there were finals in para powerlifting, as well as five races in para canoe.



Alcaraz Out as Top Players Pay Tribute to Nadal at Shanghai Masters

Spain's Carlos Alcaraz hits a return to Czech Republic's Tomas Machac during their men's singles match at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai on October 10, 2024. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz hits a return to Czech Republic's Tomas Machac during their men's singles match at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai on October 10, 2024. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)
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Alcaraz Out as Top Players Pay Tribute to Nadal at Shanghai Masters

Spain's Carlos Alcaraz hits a return to Czech Republic's Tomas Machac during their men's singles match at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai on October 10, 2024. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz hits a return to Czech Republic's Tomas Machac during their men's singles match at the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament in Shanghai on October 10, 2024. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)

World number two Carlos Alcaraz was knocked out of the Shanghai Masters in straight sets by 33rd-ranked Tomas Machac on Thursday, losing 7-6 (7/5), 7-5.

The Czech will face world number one Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals, after a surprisingly straightforward 6-1, 6-4 victory over an injured Daniil Medvedev earlier.

Alcaraz's match came shortly after his idol and compatriot Rafael Nadal announced he would retire after the Davis Cup finals in November.

"Honestly I couldn't believe it," said Alcaraz, but insisted it hadn't affected his playing.

"Thankfully I saw it one hour before the match, so I had time to accept it and forget it."

The 21-year-old told reporters that to see Nadal "leave tennis, which is what he loves, is painful", adding it was "difficult news for everyone".

Sinner for his part called the Spaniard an "unbelievable person" as he spoke about the positive impact Nadal had on young players like himself.

"It's tough news for all the tennis world and not only (the tennis world)," he said.

- 'Unbelievable' -

The bad news continued for Alcaraz as he was stunned by 23-year-old Machac's hard-hitting pace.

"His level was so high, I thought he was going to give me a window of opportunity, but he didn't... It was unbelievable. It was crazy for me," the four-time Grand Slam champion said afterwards.

The Czech edged him out in a closely fought first-set tiebreak after neither player was able to break their opponent's serve, AFP reported.

The Spaniard looked like he might make a comeback when he broke in the sixth game of the second set to level.

However, Machac powered through and broke Alcaraz again in the 11th game to claim the shock victory and progress to the semi-finals.

"I knew that against Alcaraz I have to play at this level to have a chance to win," said Machac, saying there were "no other options".

He said he would try more of the same against Sinner.

"He's playing unbelievable tennis... but I'm really looking forward to the challenge, so I will enjoy it," Machac said.

- Sinner takes advantage -

Sinner, who Alcaraz beat in the China Open final last week, looked strong from the beginning of his match against Medvedev.

This was the fifth time the two have met in the latter stages of tournaments this year, and the Italian has won four of those clashes.

In the first set, which lasted only 25 minutes, the Italian broke Medvedev in the second and sixth games to murmurs of surprise from the crowd.

The Russian kept holding his shoulder, which he had said the day before had "some niggles", and received medical attention several times during the match.

"The energy of a winner, I would say today I didn't have it unfortunately because of my physical condition," said Medvedev.

"And that's going to be the focus to try to get it back."

"He didn't play at his best," said Sinner, acknowledging the injury.

"But this can happen and I took advantage of that today. I felt like I was playing some good tennis, especially the first set, trying to keep going in the second set. It was a good performance from my side."