Olympic Track and Field 2016: Women's Marathon Medal Winners, Times and Results

Kenya's Jemima Sumgong clinched gold in the women's marathon on Sunday, where Bahrain's Eunice Kirwa and Mare Dibaba of Ethiopia took silver and bronze, respectively.

Sumgong completed the 26.2-mile course in two hours, 24 minutes and four seconds—nine seconds in front of her nearest opponent and less than a minute shy of the Olympic record.

Despite Kenya's glittering record in distance running, Sumgong's victory was a first for her country:

With tough conditions to negotiate in Rio, it was no surprise things started tentatively.

As the sun beat down on the circuit, the field strung out and a group of around 12 started to pull away. The Ethiopian duo of Dibaba and Tigist Tufa were among them, as was Kenya's Visiline Jepkesho, with the pace starting to increase.

United States athlete Kara Goucher commented on just how tough it looked for the runners on a hot Sunday morning in Brazil:

Indeed, the speed and conditions proved to be too much for some of the best competitors. Tufa, who won the 2015 London Marathon, started to struggle as the raced move toward the halfway mark and eventually limped out.

It was a withdrawal that made what was already a wide-open race even more unpredictable.

The marathon inevitably made its break into subsections toward the front, with Dibaba, Sumgong and Kirwa maintaining their places near the lead:

Around the 18-mile mark, Kirwa and Sumgong timed their break, although Dibaba was also among their pack:

The Ethiopian couldn't keep up, though, and she slowed off the front pair to form her own group alongside Shalane Flanagan of the United States, who took sixth. Fellow Ethiopian Tirfi Tsegaye was also a part of that number, having made her own dramatic fall from the front after 35 kilometres.

Runner Steph Rothstein Bruce highlighted a successful race for the Americans too, as Desiree Linden and Amy Cragg took seventh and ninth, respectively:

Flanagan and Linden also collected season's best performances for their troubles, as did North Korea's Kim Hye-Song, who placed 10th.