Nairobi — Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya finished third at the London Marathon on Sunday, as debutant Sifan Hassan clinched victory on her first ever marathon, making use of her track experience with a sprint finish.
Peres had been shoulder to shoulder with Sifan and Ethiopian Alemu Mergetu towards the final 300m, but Hassan, whose race seemed over after just 20km as she struggled with injury, put up a superb sprint that has seen her win Olympic and world titles over the 5,000m and 10,000m, to clinch a suprising victory.
She timed 2:18:33 to win the race with Mergetu second in 2:18:37 and Peres third in 2:18:38. Sheila Chepkirui was fourth after failing to keep up with the leading three and timed 2:18:51 while Judith Korir was the other Kenyan in the top 10, finishing sixth in 2:20:41.
Two-time champion and World Record holder Brigid Kosgei limped out of the race after just three minutes after struggling with injury. She had previously insinuated that she wasn’t sure of her fitness, having battled a hamstring strain before the race.
Siffan, who has been training in Ethiopia ahead of her marathon debut had seemed done at 20km. She struggled to keep the pace with the leading group and dropped off as she kept clutching on her glute muscles and even temporarily stopped to stretch.
But, she managed to catch up with the leading group at the 35km mark, where they had thinned to a group of four athletes.
They had started off with a steady pace and went through the first 5km in 16:13 and then doing 10km in 32:37, slightly slower.
They were off 20km in 4:58 with Peres starting to throw down the gauntlet and pulling away. It is at this point that Siffan dropped. But with an hour and a half of running chalked off, the Dutch lady began to crawl back to the leading pack.
At the 35km mark, the lead had whittled down to four; Peres, Hassan, defending champion Yehualaw Yalemzerf and Megertu, with Sheila dropping off pace.
Sign up for free AllAfrica Newsletters
Get the latest in African news delivered straight to your inbox
It was now down to three in the final one kilometre with Siffan, Peres and Megertu shoulder to shoulder.
Siffan had a little blip going to the last drinks table and she almost collided with the Live broadcast motorcycle but she showed remarkable tempo to remain with the other two.
With a good finishing kick under her legs, it was always dangerous to go toe to toe with Siffan in the final 300m, and she showed her worth with a good sprint to win the race.
