In the 45th London Marathon, Ethiopian Tigst Assefa broke the women’s-only world record for winning, while Kenyan Sabastian Sawe made a wise tactical choice to destroy a stacked men’s field for victory.
After setting a blistering early pace on Sunday morning, the 28-year-old Assefa, who won the silver medal at the previous year’s Paris Olympics, cut off from Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei over the final few kilometers.
She completed the race in 2 hours, 15 minutes, and 50 seconds, breaking Kenyan Peres Jepchir’s previous women’s-only record of 2: 16: 16 set in London last year, which she claimed helped because the temperatures had risen to 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit) by the time the race was finished.
Assefa, who finished second in the 2024 London race, said, “Last year, I did have some issues with the cold.” “Toward the end of the race, my hamstring tightened up.” I’m really pleased with the way the race turned out because this year’s weather was really good for me.
“I was second here last year, and it’s very special to win here this year.”
Jepkosgei, 31, crossed second in 2: 18: 44.
Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, the reigning Olympic marathon champion and 2024 London winner, resisted the sizzling early pace and came out on top around the halfway mark to finish third in 2: 19:00.
On his way to crossing in 2:02:27, the 29-year-old Sawe, who won his first marathon in December and made a stunning debut there, pulled out of the lead pack when the others reached for bottles to refuel on their way to crossing in 10 kilometers.
I’m thrilled that this is my first major marathon victory. I had a good preparation for this race, which is why it’s now simple for me to win, “Sawe said.” I’m now optimistic about my future as a marathoner because it will be so important and simple for me.
In a photo finish, Alexander Mutiso Munyao of Kenya and Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands completed the record-breaking half-marathon in 2:03:37, while Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda, who broke the world record in February, finished third.
In 1:25:25, Marcel Hug won his sixth London Marathon title, and Catherine Debrunner won her third women’s title in 4 years, breaking her own world record by two seconds.
The 42.195km race, which snaked along the River Thames before passing the Mall, was anticipated to have a world record 56, 000 runners turn up.
Alex Yee, a respectable 14th in his marathon debut, and Eilish McColgan, a British Olympic gold medalist, were two of the athletes who set a Scottish record of 2:24:25 to finish eighth in her distance debut.
Source: Aljazeera
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