Masters Men: Van 'T Riet Dominates San Francisco in 1:21:19

• Gerrit Pieter Van 'T Riet won the Masters Men race in 1:21:19 (6:12/mi), finishing 6th among all men — a gap of 1:38 over runner-up Oleksandr Skorokhod.
• Baizhan Kanafin made one of the day's biggest moves, climbing from 47th among men at the first checkpoint all the way to 26th by the finish — a charge that earned him 4th in Masters Men in 1:27:45.
• Chundao Che, age 62, finished 15th in 1:34:30 (7:13/mi) — the oldest athlete in the top 20, and one of the more remarkable performances in the field of 1,096.
• James Smith (age 54) and Jason Price (age 41) finished 10th and 11th separated by just 2 seconds — 1:31:13 to 1:31:15 — with Rasmus Houborg (age 52) just 10 seconds further back in 12th at 1:31:25.

Gerrit Pieter Van 'T Riet, representing Amsterdam, ran a masterclass from wire to wire. Sitting 6th among all men from the very first checkpoint and never wavering from that position through the final miles, he crossed in 1:21:19 at a 6:12/mi clip — a pace that held firm across the full 13.1 miles of San Francisco's demanding streets. His finishing kick was real, too: he posted the 4th-fastest split in the field on the 11.05M-to-Finish stretch, suggesting he had more in reserve than most. Skorokhod (1:22:57, 6:20/mi) and Celerier (1:24:53, 6:29/mi) rounded out the podium, with Celerier drifting from 8th to 11th among men in the second half — a fade that cost him ground but not the bronze.

The most dramatic story in the top five belonged to Kanafin, who started conservatively — 47th among men through the early miles — before reeling in runner after runner to land 4th in 1:27:45 (6:42/mi). Just 28 seconds behind him, Lokesh Dhakar (5th, 1:28:13, 6:44/mi) told a similar tale of a back-half surge, moving from 39th among men at the opening checkpoint to 27th by the line. These were not coincidentally close finishes — Dhakar ran the 19th-fastest split in the field on the 11.05M-to-Finish leg, visibly catching up ground over the final miles but just running out of road to close the gap on Kanafin.

Deep in the field, the 1,096-strong Masters Men group delivered its own moments. Che's 1:34:30 at age 62 stood out in the top 20, while the tight cluster of Smith, Price, and Houborg — three runners separated by 12 seconds across 10th through 12th — made for a compelling late-race battle that only the clock could sort out.