Kiptum and Hassan triumph in astounding London Marathon

Men’s race winner, Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum poses for a photo at the presentation ceremony for the 2023 London Marathon in central London on April 23, 2023. (Photo by JUSTIN TALLIS / AFP).

Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum won the men’s London Marathon on Sunday in the second-fastest time in history while Sifan Hassan staged a remarkable rally to win the women’s event in the Olympic track champion’s first race over the distance.

The 23-year-old Kiptum broke the course record with an astonishing time of 2 hours, 1 minute and 25 seconds.

Having broken clear of the field, Kiptum — who became the third fastest male marathon runner of all time on his debut in Valencia in December — faded towards the finish and missed out on Eliud Kipchoge’s world record by 18 seconds.

Geoffrey Kamworor made it a Kenyan one-two, finishing second in 2:04:23, with Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola third in 2:04:59.

British distance great Mo Farah, in his last marathon before retirement, finished ninth in 2:10:28.

Hassan recovery

Earlier, it looked as if Hassan’s debut marathon would end in disappointment.

The 5,000 and 10,000 metres Olympic gold medallist from the Covid-delayed 2020 Tokyo Games had been in the leading group but was dropped and holding her side after the hour mark.

It would have been impressive enough had the Ethiopian-born Dutch runner, a Muslim who had been fasting due to Ramadan, just completed the course on the rainswept streets of the British capital, with Hassan then grabbing her hip and stopping to stretch off the injury.

Hassan, however, recovered to rejoin the leaders with three miles to go.

Despite making a mess of collecting a drink from a water station, the 30-year-old recovered and even offered rival Yalemzerf Yehualaw, last year’s winner, a swig from