Kenyan Athlete Kelvin Kiptum won the London Marathon breaking compatriot Eliud Kipchoge’s course record in the second-fastest time ever.
Kiptum was just 16 seconds from breaking the World Record outside Kipchoge’s world record, finishing in two hours one minute 25 seconds.
Ethiopian-born Dutch Olympic track champion Sifan Hassan also produced a remarkable run to win the women’s race.
23 year old Kiptum knocked one minute and 12 seconds off Kipchoge’s previous course record to beat second-placed compatriot Geoffrey Kamworor by almost three minutes.
Hassan, who won the 5,000m and 10,000m at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, appeared out of the women’s race after dropping back early on with a hip problem, but somehow fought back.
She then produced a sprint finish to win in two hours 18 minutes 33 seconds.
Australia’s Madison de Rozario held off Manuela Schar, of Switzerland, in a sprint finish to win the women’s wheelchair event for a second time.
More than 48,000 runners are taking part in the marathon, raising millions of pounds for charity, with huge crowds lining the streets of London despite damp conditions.
The event has returned to its traditional date in the calendar, in April, for the first time since 2019 after being moved during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The women’s field was billed as the greatest ever assembled, but Kenyan world record holder Brigid Kosgei dropped out after just three minutes, while Ethiopia’s defending champion Yalemzerf Yehualaw was fifth.
Kiptum produced the fastest marathon debut in Valencia in December, where he finished in 2:01:53 – the third-fastest time in history.
He went faster still on the streets of London, leaving a high-class field in his wake, with Ethiopia’s reigning world champion Tamirat Tola in third, three minutes and 34 seconds behind.
Emile Cairess, 25, produced a superb run to finish as the first British man home, taking sixth in 2:08:07 on his marathon debut.
It was the third-fastest marathon time by a British man – behind Farah and Steve Jones – and the second fastest by a Briton in the London race.
Four British runners finished in the top 10, with Phil Sesemann eighth and Chris Thompson 10th.
