London Marathon: Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir breaks women-only marathon record; Alexander Mutiso Munyao wins men’s race
Peres Jepchirchir won the London Marathon in 2:16:16s, faster than the earlier record by 45 seconds
Kenya’s Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir at the TCS London Marathon; PC: Olympics.com/Reuters
Kenya’s Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir broke the women-only world record by 45 seconds when she triumphed at the TCS London Marathon on Sunday. The Kenyan clocked 2:16:16s to win the World Athletics Platinum Label road race.
As she passed the finish line in 2:16:16s, she broke the women-only world record of 2:17:01s set by Mary Keitany in 2017.
Alexander Mutiso Munyao made it a Kenyan double by winning the London Marathon men’s race in 2:04:01s, finishing 14 seconds ahead of Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele.
Jepchirchir won from an illustrious field of world record-holder Tigist Assefa, 2021 London winner Joyciline Jepkosgei, and last year’s London Marathon runner-up Megertu Alemu. The illustrious trio finished inside 2:1 London Marathon 2024 Results, London Marathon 2024 winner 7s as Jepchirchir won her third major marathon.
The marathon started on a brisk note, with nine runners passing the 10 km mark in just more than 30 minutes (31:26). By the time they reached the halfway mark in 1:07:04, the pack was down to seven women. It was about 18 miles into the race when the quartet of Jepchirchir, Assefa, Jepkosgei and Alemu managed to detach themselves from the rest of the field, and they ran together for the best part of eight miles.
As the clock ticked to 2:15, with little more than a minute of running left, Alemu was finally dropped. Seconds later, Jepchirchir unleashed her trademark finish to leave behind Jepkosgei and Assefa.
