Sifan Hassan completed a stunning comeback to win the women's race of the London Marathon after appearing to be injured part way through her event debut on Sunday.
The Ethiopian-born Dutch athlete triumphed in two hours 18 minutes 33 seconds in what was billed as possibly the strongest field ever despite falling off the pace and clutching her hip around the 24-kilometre mark. "I never thought I would finish a marathon and here I am winning it," said Hassan. "I had a problem with my hip, which made me stop.
But it started to feel a little bit better. And then I missed one of the drinks stations! "I didn't practice that part of the race because I have been fasting [during Ramadan] and so that was quite difficult." The 30-year-old 5,000 and 10,000-metre Olympic champion then reeled in the leaders with 4.8 km remaining.
Hassan also overcame making a mess of collecting a drink from a water station, and even offered last year's winner, Yalemzerf Yehualaw, a gulp from her bottle.