Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir set a new women’s-only world record at the London Marathon on Sunday. She sprinted ahead of Tigst Assefa, the current overall world record holder, to break Mary Keitany’s mark by 45 seconds with a time of 2 hours, 16 minutes, and 16 seconds. The women’s field was considered one of the best in distance running history, with three of the world’s four fastest women finishing ahead of Keitany’s record.
In the men’s elite race, Kenya’s Alexander Mutiso Munyao outdueled Kenenisa Bekele to win with a time of 2:04:01. Munyao was only 27 years old and told the BBC that he had trained hard for this race and felt confident in his ability to win. Britain’s Emile Cairess finished third in the men’s race, 2:45 back from Munyao.
The women’s field was particularly impressive, with Switzerland dominating both wheelchair races. Marcel Hug won the men’s wheelchair division for the fourth consecutive year and fifth overall time, while Catherine Debrunner won the women’s wheelchair race in 1:38:54. Manuela Schar also finished second just as she did in Boston more than six minutes behind Debrunner.
