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Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir delivered what she had promised when she broke Mary Keitany’s women’s-only world record to win the London Marathon.
Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir lived up to her promise of breaking Mary Keitany’s women’s-only world record when she run a tactical race to win the London Marathon on Sunday.
Jepchirchir, who has all but secured her spot in Kenya’s final marathon squad to the Olympics, showed great composure and a good final kick to shake off her competitors to claim victory in a new women’s-only record of 2:16:16, breaking Keitany’s mark of 2:17:01 set in 2017.
In what was a fast race, all the top four women run faster than Keitany’s record with world record holder Tigst Asefa of Ethiopia clocking 2:16:23 for second place after pipping Kenya’s Joyiciline Jepkosgei who managed 2:16:24 to complete the podium.
The favourites for the race were clear past the halfway mark of the race with Assefa, Jepchirchir, Jepkosgei and Magertu Alemu running close to each other.
Jepchirch and Assefa would exchange leads periodically as the other two stayed close until the final stretch.
Jepkosgei then surged ahead in the final five minutes, remaining with Keitany’s women’s-only world record win sight.
Jepchirchir then waited until the final metres before storming to the finish line, leaving her rivals trailing, after showing great pace and power to win in a new mark.
With the strong field, Jepchirchir had predicted a new world record on Thursday and the race delivered just that.
The Olympic champion can now look forward to defending her title in Paris as she set to join Boston Marathon champion Hellen Obiri in Kenya’s final three although Athletics Kenya will have a hard time selecting the third athlete to join them.
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