London Marathon: Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum runs second-fastest official time in history, misses record by 18 seconds
- 23-year-old breaks course record, finishing in 2 hours, 1 minute and 27 seconds
- Sifan Hassan stages remarkable rally to win the women’s event in first race over the distance
Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum won the men’s London Marathon on Sunday in the second-fastest time in history, while Sifan Hassan staged a remarkable rally to win the women’s event in the Olympic track champion’s first race over the distance.
The 23-year-old Kiptum broke the course record with an astonishing time of 2 hours, 1 minute and 25 seconds.
Having broken clear of the field, Kiptum, who became the third fastest male marathon runner of all time on his debut in Valencia in December, faded towards the finish and missed out on Eliud Kipchoge’s world record by 18 seconds.
Geoffrey Kamworor made it a Kenyan one-two, finishing second in 2:04:23, with Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola third in 2:04:59.
British distance great Mo Farah, in his last marathon before retirement, finished ninth in 2:10:28.
“We have never seen anything like this before on the streets of London and Kelvin Kiptum has put in the performance of his life,” said BBC commentator Steve Cram, the 1983 1,500-metre world champion. “He blew the field apart.”