Finish Line Drama: School Teacher Snags Marathon Victory in US by a Split Second VIDEO
The Los Angeles Marathon saw one of the most dramatic finishes in recent years.
36-year-old American runner Nathan Martin snatched victory literally at the finish line, overtaking Kenya's Michael Kamau by less than a second.
Martin covered the 42.2 km distance in 2 hours, 11 minutes, and 18 seconds, and it was he who claimed the winning tape. Interestingly, both athletes had the same official time, but the American was the first to cross the finish line.
The dramatic finish video quickly went viral online. The footage shows an exhausted Kamau literally collapsing immediately after the finish line — he had to be carried away on a stretcher. Nathan himself said after the race that he decided to "attack" the leader approximately five miles before the finish.
"When I saw that no one was speeding up, I realized — I had to take a risk. A mile and a half before the finish, I already saw the leader, and at 800 meters, I thought: I'll catch him."
Interestingly, the marathon winner works as a substitute teacher at a school in Jackson and also coaches the school's track and field team. His personal best in the marathon is 2:10:45, which he set at Grandma's Marathon in 2023, becoming the fastest U.S.-born Black marathoner.