Lisa Weightman has become only the third Australian woman to finish in the top 20 of an Olympic marathon after producing a personal best time in the London Olympic marathon.
Weightman, 33, slashed more than a minute off her previous best, finishing 17th in a time of 2:27:32. She finished behind Ethiopian winner Tik Gelana who won in an Olympic record time, 2hr 23min 07sec.
Gelana won by just 5 seconds from Kenya’s Priscah Jeptoo with Russian Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova third.
Weightman finished 33rd in Beijing four years ago in a time of 2:34:16 so was understandable thrilled with her career-best performance.
“I was quite pleased that I wasn’t that far off the front pack, that gave me that extra boost,” she said. “When I ran in Beijing I was off the pace by miles early on, so it was a bit lonely.
“This time I knew if I kept to plan and just focused on picking each one – my dad always tells me to just focus on gobbling up the next person, don’t worry about who’s behind you. That was all that I had in my head. It was nice to get each one, and sometimes a couple at a time.”