STEPHANIE Davis’s legs were refusing to do what she told them but the Scot battled on and secured a top-40 finish in the women’s marathon at her debut Olympic Games.
The marathon, along with the walking races, was moved to Sapporo, over 500 miles north of Tokyo, where temperatures are cooler in the summer but officials still had to bring the start forward an hour to 6am local time due to concerns surrounding the heat.
Athletes had to contend with temperatures of 28°C and close to 80% humidity with a number of high-profile long-distance stars failing to finish the race, including Kenyan world champion Ruth Chepngetich, who pulled up after slipping off the leading group at the 30km mark.
Glasgow’s Davis only ran her first marathon in 2018 but won the British trials at Kew Gardens earlier this year with a new PB of 2:27:16 to book her spot on the plane to Japan to compete at the delayed Games.
In Sapporo on Saturday morning, the 30-year-old finished as the top Brit in 39th spot, in a time of 2:36:33, ahead of compatriots Steph Twell in 68th and Jess Piasecki who finished three spots further back.
“The last 400m felt like the longest ever. My legs were like they were running in circles,” explained Davis.
“I thought I started sensibly and I felt in control until 15km. I had in my mind I would assess things every few km and at 30km I thought I might be able to push on a bit. But you just can’t. I am so glad I paced the way I did early on and I was really consistent after that.
“You can’t go out too fast. I stayed at the back of the pack, I watched them go and that was ok. I didn’t panic, stayed patient and I am an Olympian and I can’t believe it!
“The conditions are so tough. It is weird because until the last 4km I felt hot but before that I didn’t actually feel physically hot but my body was obviously feeling it because my heart rate was going up a bit.
“I was maintaining the same pace but it took a lot more effort. You have to respect the marathon always and particularly in these conditions.”
Bringing the start forward from its original time of 7am to 6am at short notice did have some effect in terms of the conditions but had initially caused some consternation among the athletes.
Preparations were disrupted but Davis acknowledges that in the end, the right call was made.
“In hindsight it did please me, but at the time I thought ‘oh no I better get to bed and I’m only going to get six and a half hours sleep’,” she added.
“I didn’t sleep well and not as good as previous nights. It probably threw me a bit and I had to text everyone at home to tell them it was an hour earlier but it was the right decision as it feels roasting even now [right after the race].”
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