Sifan Hassan and Kelvin Kiptum light up London Marathon with historic wins

Nobody has ever won a London Marathon like Sifan Hassan, who stopped twice to stretch a tight hip, lost contact with the leaders, and also nearly got hit by a race motorbike after going back to collect her drink, on her way to glory.

Yet instead of pulling out the Dutch athlete, already an Olympic 5,000 and 10,000m champion, ploughed on. Hassan further staked her claim to be regarded as the greatest female distance athlete in history by winning a sprint finish in 2 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds.

But Hassan’s victory, on her marathon debut, was just one extraordinary performance in one of the most remarkable days in the history of this event.

“I never thought I would finish the marathon and win,” said Hassan, who was 28 seconds behind the leaders at 25km (15.5 miles). “I can’t believe it. I was going to stop at 25km.”

Behind her was Ethiopia’s Alemu Megertu, who was second in 2hr 18min 37sec, while the Olympic champion, Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya, was one second further back in third place.

The men’s race was just as incredible but for different reasons, as the Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum powered clear of his rivals after 18 miles to win in 2hr 1min 25sec – the second-fastest time in history and a course record for London.

Incredibly, the 23-year-old ran the second half of the race in 59min 47sec. No wonder his closest rival, Kenyan compatriot Geoffrey Kamworor, was nearly three minutes back in 2hr 4min 23sec, with Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola in third.

And Mo Farah? Well, unsurprisingly he was unable to capture the magic of his past days as he finished 10th in 2hr 10min 28sec. That made him only the third Briton overall, behind 25-year-old Emile Cairess, who was sixth in 2hr 8min 7sec, and Phil Sesseman, who overtook Farah in the