Gabriel Geay on beating Eliud Kipchoge and making marathon history for Tanzania: "I am among the greatest"
What does it really take to be among the best marathon runners?
It certainly requires some courage and boldness, especially if you manage to beat the greatest ever in the distance.
With just two races, Tanzania's Gabriel Geay, went from being an up-and-coming runner to a star poised for even greater success.
His heroic efforts in chasing down world record holder Kelvin Kiptum at the 2022 Valencia Marathon were remarkable.
During that race, the late Kenyan star set the record for the fastest-ever debut marathon with a time of 2:01:53.
At the 2023 Boston Marathon, Geay’s pace was often faster than his competitors in a highly competitive field that included the legendary Eliud Kipchoge.
Geay’s relentless pacing seemed to wear down Kipchoge, as he held on for a shocking second-place finish. Meanwhile, the Kenyan double Olympic champion suffered a shocking defeat, finishing sixth, marking his third loss in 18 marathons.
Tanzanians rejoiced, celebrating their country’s best performance in the World Marathon Majors in over three decades.
That race ignited a spark and prompted a shift in Geay’s marathon approach.
“Last year in Boston, I was sure of the training I did and my fitness levels. I went into the race knowing I am among the greatest on the field and I can run as well as the favourites and win,” he tells Olympics.com just before wrapping up one of his final training sessions ahead of departing for his third attempt at the Boston Marathon on 15 April.
“I never go into a race thinking that this runner is better than me or not. When we are on the road, we are all equal and today may be his day and the next one could be mine. That’s how I approached the race that day, it was my day. I broke out at 31km last year in Boston and decided to maintain the pace to the end.”
As the 27-year-old pushes towards another Olympic outing, this time in Paris, the 2024 Boston race will serve as his ultimate tune-up for the Games.
“My ultimate dream is to win a World Marathon Major or a Championship medal.”
Gabriel Geay: Inspired by the country’s greatest
As a budding runner, Geay had heard of the names of some of Tanzania’s great athletes who had ruled the track and roads years before he was born.
Filbert Bayi was a household name, having earned the African nation’s first Olympic medal by taking the 1500m silver at the Olympic Games Moscow 1980.
Geay comes from Manyara, a town close to Bayi’s home near Arusha, the Northwestern city nestled between the famous Mt Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti National Park. The favourable subtropical weather in the region, tempered by high altitude, has attracted many youngsters who envision their future through running.
Like Bayi, he developed track ambitions early, primarily running the 1500m in school and becoming a dominant force nationally in distances ranging from 800m to 5000m for years.
And when he stepped up to the roads, he was driven by the need to earn a living from running.
“Running has greatly changed and improved my life,” he said, speaking slowly but his voice heavy with passion for his runs.
“I may not have won major races, but the ones that I competed in have been life-changing.”
The roads took him to marathon running, a career of interesting turns, that led him to his first Olympic appearance.
“I looked at the other road races as one of the stages you have to go through to get to the marathon. I began as a pacer in marathons in 2019, but it wasn’t until 2021 when I finished my first 42km race, the Milano Marathon, in fifth,” he said.
Tokyo 2020 was a running high for Geay who had only previously donned his national team running vest at the 2019 African Games.
“Sadly, in Tokyo at the Olympics, I started the race but pulled out injured around the 10km mark.”
That disappointment fuelled his improvement the following year, when he leaped from being a 2:04 runner to 2:03:00, a memory that still triggers mixed feelings.
“I didn’t expect to run 2:03:00. But when I crossed the finish line, I felt I could have dipped to 2:02:58 or 2:00:59, I was like, ‘I could have become a sub 2:03 runner…’ I wasn’t very exhausted after the race, so certainly I could have gone faster.”
Gabriel Geay on his friendship with Kelvin Kiptum
Besides running a personal best in Valencia, Geay who occasionally trains in the running mecca of Iten, Kenya, forged a friendship with the winner Kiptum, who was killed in a road crash last February.
“Valencia was special for us, we had both raced in the 2021 half marathon there before that amazing marathon run in 2022,” he recalled.
We travelled together to Valencia together and spent a lot of time before and after the race. I had great admiration for him.
“I was privileged to know him, a lovely person he was. Then racing him when he was at his peak…it was obvious that there was still so much more he could have achieved…,” he said with his voice trailing off, Kiptum’s tragic death still so raw and vivid for him.
“The news of his death hit me hard...It was shocking and devastating. It took me a while for the news to sink in. I couldn’t even train that day…After Chicago, I had longed to see what else he could achieve in marathon running.”
Gabriel Geay leading Evans Chebet in the final stages of the 2023 Boston Marathon.
Last year the Tanzanian impressed at Boston, where many of the world’s best marathoners crushed: while other athletes, including Kipchoge, surged earlier, he calculatedly held back.
“In my entire road race career, I have run in the U.S. more than anywhere else. And most of the courses there are hilly, up and down. I have always conquered such courses. I was confident that Boston would not prove to be a hard one, I will go up hill and then back down.
“I remember Kipchoge going out fast at the 10km, I was not worried at all. Being Kipchoge I knew he likes to take charge early, ‘but this is Boston’ I thought. I made my move at the 31km point, I decided, ‘let me pace the field and see who follows’.
“Some of the Kenyan runners followed me, but Kipchoge didn’t.”
He went neck-to-neck with the eventual winner Evans Chebet, until the home stretch. He finished second but it felt like he’d won the race. The Tanzanian president, Samia Suluhu, was among those who hailed his remarkable achievement.
Understandably so.
Gabriel Geay: Focus on Paris 2024 after returning to Boston for the third time
Tanzania has produced some marathon greats like Bayi, Commonwealth Games marathon winner Gidemas Shahanga, and the country’s only other Olympic medallist Suleiman Nyambui. However, their last World Marathon Majors champion is Juma Ikangaa, who claimed victory in New York in 1989.
“I know there is talk of me equalling or matching what other great Tanzanian athletes have done on the road, but I still just consider myself an average runner” said Geay, modest about his achievements though there’s no hiding that his recent results have done more than send him to the top ten of the all-time marathon ranking.
He's attuned to the glory but still feels he has a lot to learn and explore.
“I have learnt from watching and running with some of the best marathoners like Kiptum, is that you must a dream to do something big. When you have big goals, you start working towards them right from training and execute in races.”
The 27-year-old is excited for his return to Boston this year to chase another marathon dream.
“I expect that I will run well. I can’t say I am going for a win as I don’t know how well the other elites have prepared. The biggest thing for me is not even the course, it’s the weather. I never thrive in hot conditions,” offered Geay, who finished seventh at the 2022 World Championships.
“I have never won a World Marathon Major or even earned a Championship medal. And like every athlete, my dream is to win an Olympic medal. Sometimes it feels like a lottery but that’s the ultimate goal, a medal.”
He’s excited about his return to the Olympic stage. But he’s spurred by the knowledge that in doing so, he’ll inspire hundreds of young Tanzanians training or hoping to become runners.
“I stay with athletes who have never even travelled for races abroad, I try to help shape their mindsets and their training by sharing tips and sharpen their techniques the pain of training. I am also very open about how much training hurts- marathon training pains even for those considered the greatest.
Even as I chase marathon glory, I hope that my good records will stand and can motivate others to better what I have done in the marathon.”
As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.