In the final moments of the Los Angeles marathon last weekend, the announcers were already narrating frontrunner Michael Kimani Kamau’s finish when Nathan Martin suddenly propelled forward, shocking newscasters and spectators.
The 36-year-old Martin prevailed in a single stride, stepping across the finish line an almost imperceptible fraction of a second before Kamau and becoming the first Black American to win the contest. He had challenged himself in the final miles of the race to keep putting his all into it, despite physical exhaustion, and finished the 26.2-mile race in 2 hours, 11 minutes and 18 seconds.
