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Alphonce Simbu is a Tanzanian marathon runner who recently won the gold medal on the third day of the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. Simbu clocked a run time of 2:09:48 to win the title and defeat the likes of Amanel Petros and Iliass Aouani.
Notably, this gold medal was also the first gold medal for Tanzania in the history of the World Championships. Simbu also came close to a world title in 2017 when he won the bronze medal eventually, but 8 years later in Tokyo, Simbu has finally crossed the line in first place.
Speaking after his victory, Simbu expressed his happiness at winning the title and becoming the first Tanzanian athlete to win a gold at the world event. He said (via Al Jazeera):
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"I did not know if I had won. But when I saw the video screens and me on the top of the results, I felt relieved. I made history today – the first Tanzanian gold medal at a world championships."
On that note, let's know more about this Tanzanian marathon runner who clinched a gold medal at the World Championships 2025, Alphonce Simbu.
Alphonce Simbu: Family and hometown
Simbu was born in Singida, Tanzania, on February 14, 1992. Information about his parents and family is not available on the web. However, as per reports, Simbu had an immense interest in church choir singing before his attention diverted towards track and field.
Alphonce Simbu: Educational details and the beginning of his track career
Newly crowned marathon world champion, Simbu's educational details are not available in the public domain. As for his track career, it began in 2011, when he was seen at the Dar-es-Salaam event in Tanzania, where he won the 5000m event.
Alphonce Simbu: Other achievements of his career
Across his long career, Simbu has had several impressive runs on the track. Besides his World Championships heroics, which include a gold and a bronze medal, Simbu has clinched podium finishes at numerous major marathon events.
The most prominent ones among them are the 2025 Boston Marathon, where he was the runner-up, and the 2017 Mumbai Marathon, which he won. Simbu's medal tally also includes a runner-up finish in the marathon event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. He has also represented Tanzania in several Olympic Games but hasn't been able to clinch a medal so far in his career.
