As Emile Cairess entered the final 200 metres of the London Marathon, the wall of sound from spectators was suddenly interrupted by an excited bark from the PA. “And there’s our third-placed finisher coming into view!” Which, as the quiet man of British athletics later admitted, came as rather a nice surprise.
But it was all the 26-year-old deserved for a performance of soul and substance, particularly in the final two miles, where he weaved past tired legs to leap from eighth to the podium and book his place at the Paris Olympics.
