Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa went one-up on the ladies’s-only world file whereas successful the forty fifth London Marathon on Sunday. She pulled away from Joyciline Jepkosgei of Kenya with whom she had set a scorching early tempo, and dashed the ultimate couple of kilometres for a well-known win.
The timing nonetheless was 25 seconds slower than the course file set by Paula Radcliffe in 2003 when it was a blended race with women and men beginning collectively.
The 28-year-old Assefa, silver medallist on the 2024 Paris Olympics and a double winner at Berlin marathon, clocked 2:15.50 beating the earlier girls’s-only file of two:16:16 set final yr in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
Jepkosgei, 31, got here in second in 2:18.44, whereas Olympic champion Sifan Hassan was third. She fell again unable to maintain up with the scorching early tempo, and was dwelling in 2:19.00.
Tigst Assefa celebrates after successful the race with second positioned Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei and third Netherlands’ positioned Sifan Hassan. (Reuters)
Within the males’s occasion, Sabastian Sawe of Kenya notched his greatest profession victory after making a solo breakaway with about 10km left. 9 runners made the main group earlier than Sawe broke off about 90 minutes into the race and completed in 2:02.27 after kicking at drinks – a daring determination.
It was a dangerous transfer as Sawe made good time whereas his rivals slowed down at a drinks station. The Kenyan opted to not take any water regardless of sultry temperatures.
Jacob Kiplimo, the half marathon world file holder who was making his full marathon debut, was the one runner capable of give chase to Sawe however may by no means get near erasing the hole. The Ugandan completed about 70 seconds again in second place.
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Sawe’s solely earlier marathon win got here in Valencia in 2024, although he turned the fourth straight Kenyan to win London.
“Final yr, I did have some issues with the chilly,” mentioned Assefa, who was second within the 2024 London race. “My hamstring tightened up in the direction of the top of the race. This yr, the climate suited me very well, and that’s why I’m actually happy with the best way the race went. I used to be second right here final yr, and to win right here this yr could be very particular,” she added.
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