Kipchoge wins his third London marathon, while Keitany and Dibaba fade

A brilliant performance by @EliudKipchoge, he wins his third @LondonMarathon! #LondonMarathon pic.twitter.com/fMQSLNM88s

— NN Running Team (@NNRunningTeam) April 22, 2018

At a very warm London Marathon this morning, Eliud Kipchoge lived up to all expectations, took the lead early and held on for his third win, with a time of 2:04:16. Ethiopia’s Shura Kitata, who managed to stay with Kipchoge until the last few kilometres, finished in second (2:04:49), with British favourite Mo Farah in third place (2:06:21), smashing Steve Jones’s British record in only his second marathon.

Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot (last year’s winner at Frankfurt) seemingly came out of nowhere to win the women’s marathon in an astonishing 2:18:31, achieving a huge personal best in the process in only her second completed marathon. Brigid Kosgei of Kenya was second and Ethiopia’s Tirunesh Bekele third.

When Kenya’s Mary Keitany and Tirunesh Dibaba’s efforts to break Paula Radcliffe’s world record started to unravel, less high-profile runners took advantage, and Keitany struggled to finish in fifth. (Keitany and Dibaba were first and second in London last year.) Dibaba dropped out of the race just past the 30K mark.

Vivian Cheruiyot wins women’s London Marathon after Mary Keitany fades https://t.co/wlb3Np7upm

— The Guardian (@guardian) April 22, 2018

The contenders in the men’s race (last year’s winner Daniel Wanjiru, Kenenisa Bekele and Abel Kirui) fell off the lead relatively early, leaving the contest to Kipchoge, Kitata and Farah in the end. Kitata, who won both Rome and Frankfurt’s marathons last year, also set a new PB today.