The 35-year-old won the London Marathon for a third time and broke the women’s only record of Briton Paula Radcliffe, completing the 42.2-kilometer race in two hours and 17 minutes.Mary Keitany won the London Marathon for a third time and broke the women’s only record of Paula Radcliffe. The 35-year-old shaved 14 seconds off Radcliffe’s record with a time of 2:17:01, but the Briton still holds the best time in a mixed gender event.
Keitany took advantage of the fact that last year’s winner Jemima Sumgong is currently suspended for testing positive for the blood booster EPO. She was leading at a strong pace throughout and was on track to break the outright world record at the halfway mark.
The pace eased up in sunny conditions, but she still finished well ahead of three-time Olympic gold medal winner Tirunesh Dibaba, 55 seconds behind. Fellow Ethiopian, Aselefech Mergia, finished the race in third place.
“It was very fast pace and I tried to follow it,” Keitany said. “I think the course has changed a little bit and it felt better than before. The weather was really good this year.
“I’m very happy with the finish time. Parts of the course are hilly but I train in a very similar area in Kenya so it was not too different for me.”
Meanwhile, Daniel Wanjiru completed the course in 2hrs 5min 48sec to add to his success at the Amsterdam Marathon last year.
The Kenyan burst clear mid-race and had built enough ground to win with a nine second lead to beat Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia who made up impressive ground in the final 12 kilometers.
With Bekele charging down towards the final straight, Wanjiru glanced over his shoulder nervously, but had enough in the tank to finish in first. His countryman, Bedan Karoki, finished in third place.
rd/ft (AFP)
