Kenyan athlete breaks London Marathon record as Sir Mo Farah bows out

A Kenyan runner has smashed the course record for the London Marathon – as Sir Mo Farah competed in the race for the final time.

Kelvin Kiptum, 23, won the men’s elite event in the second-fastest marathon in history, crossing the finish line in 2:01.27.

But he tired towards the end and missed out on Eliud Kipchoge’s world record, set in Berlin last year, by 18 seconds.

Kiptum collapsed onto the ground, exhausted, after crossing the finish line.

The surprise winner of the women’s elite race was Sifan Hassan, who was running her debut marathon.

The Ethiopian-born Dutch athlete, who is the 5,000 and 10,000 metres Olympic champion, reeled in the leaders with three miles to go and came home in 2.18.33.

Her victory was all the more remarkable after she appeared to run into difficulties just under an hour in, clutching her hip and falling behind as she stopped and stretched.

Meanwhile, Sir Mo came in ninth in the men’s elite race, completing the course in 2:10.28.

The four-time Olympic gold medallist’s personal best for the 26.2-mile race was 2:05:11.

The spectators shouted “go on, Mo” as the 40-year-old vied to chase down the leaders in his final marathon.

Speaking after crossing the line, Sir Mo told the BBC: “The crowds, the support, it was amazing.

“I gave it my all. It’s quite emotional.”

He revealed his final race would be the Great North Run in September.

The first British man home in the London event was Yorkshire’s Emile Cairess, who finished sixth on his marathon debut.

Swiss star Marcel Hug won a fifth men’s wheelchair race in London, just six days after winning the Boston Marathon.

The women’s wheelchair race was won by 2018 winner Madison de Rozario of Australia, who pipped four-time champion Manuela Schar on the finish line.

Some 49,675 runners registered for this year’s race, up from the previous record of 43,199 in 2019.

This year the marathon returned to its usual April timing after three years of the race being held in October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Sir Mo announced in January that 2023 would be his final year in athletics.

He had to pull out of last year’s London Marathon with a hip injury.

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Sir Mo won the first two of his Olympic golds in the capital at the 2012 Games, and retained his 5,000m and 10,000m titles in Rio four years later.

But recent years have been difficult for the long-distance runner after his failure to qualify for the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021 was followed by injury troubles.

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