German Amanal Petros made an early grab for gold, winning in a time of 2:09:11, a new championship record. But behind him there was a more dramatic showdown for the medals.
Suldan Hassan was in a group of seven runners for a long time, before they started dropping off one by one and he was left to contest the medals with Italian Pietro Riva and Israeli Gashau Ayale.
Lost in the final sprint
During the final sprint, Riva and Ayale pulled away from Hassan and were able to finish second and third respectively. Hassan finished three seconds behind Ayale in fourth.
After the disappointing medal miss, Hassan initially did not want to talk to the journalists on site.
He is too sad, he doesn't want to talk to anyone right now, announced the national team's press officer Anna-Lena Pettersson.
"Disappointment"
But after an hour or so he spoke to SVT.
It's disappointing of course. I felt I had a chance to medal today, but... fell short.
"I still feel like I made the best of the situation and did everything I could. Next time, it'll be enough," says Hassan.
His fourth place is Sweden's fifth at the European Athletics Championships.
Finnish women's victory
Other Swedes in the men's marathon: Ebba Tulu Chala finished in 13th place, Archie Casteel came in 47th place, while Samuel Tsegay dropped out halfway through the race.
The women's marathon was won by Alisa Vainio of Finland in a time of 2:22:26.
Hanna Lindholm was the best Swede in 25th place, followed by Carolina Johnson in 40th place. Samrawit Mengsteab dropped out of the race.
Fanny Roos, shot put.
Daniel Ståhl, discus.
Oskar Edlund, 400 metre hurdles.
Perseus Karlström, race walk.
Suldan Hassan, marathon.
