Nairobi — Kenya's Rosemary Wanjiru finished second on her debut at the Berlin Marathon, running a new lifetime best time of 2:18:00 behind Ethiopia's Tigist Assefa who ran the third quickest time in history.

Wanjiru who had been dropped way behind after the first 15km ran a determined second half of the race to finish second, in a race dominated by the Ethiopians who occupied four of the top five slots.

The other Kenyan in the race, Vibian Chepkirui finished a distant 10th, having led for most part of the opening exchanges of the race before fading away.

She had taken the leading pack through the first 15km in 48:44, running behind the pacemakers led by her husband Wesley Kangogo.

At the halfway mark, she led the leading park again through in 68:13 but from there, she couldn't sustain the pace as the Ethiopian legion took charge.

Assefa sat in the lead, but Tigist Abeyachew began to fade off, leaving it to a one-woman contest. In the final 15km, Wanjiru made up for lost ground and ate up the gap on the leaders.

She laboured through, with the finish line in sight and despite a late attempt by Abeyachew, she managed to hold off for second.