Kenyan Recho Kosgei collapsed while leading the Warsaw Marathon, with a near-three-minute lead and about a half-mile to go on Sunday.
Kosgei wobbled from side to side on the Polish capital’s roads in the final mile, occasionally turning her head around. She saw nobody in the distance behind her.
She eventually, slowly, collapsed to the pavement about 2 hours, 30 minutes into the 26.2-mile race.
As she struggled to get up, two runners finally approached 2 1/2 minutes later.
The first was Slovakian Marek Hladik, in 10th place in the men’s race, who stopped and put his hand out in an attempt to lift Kosgei off the road.