Peres Jepchirchir, 27, of Kenya won the women’s Olympic marathon in 2 hours 27 minutes 20 seconds on Saturday in Sapporo, Japan, 500 miles north of Tokyo, where officials moved the 26.2 mile race in a preventive but futile attempt to escape the heat and humidity that have smothered the Summer Games.
Brigid Kosgei, 27, of Kenya, the world-record holder, took silver in 2:27:36. And Molly Seidel, 27, of the United States, running only her third marathon, won a surprise bronze in 2:27:46, staying among the leaders from the start. She became the third American woman to win a medal in the Olympic marathon.