Peres Jepchirchir, a Kenyan sprinter, broke the world record in the London Marathon. She sprinted down the Mall and crossed the finish line in two hours, 16 minutes, and 16 seconds. Four runners were in contention for the top spot as Jepchirchir approached the final stretch. Tigst Assefa from Ethiopia finished second, Joyciline Jepkosgei came in third, and Megertu Alemu was fourth. The previous record was set by Mary Jepkosgei Keitany in London in 2017 and was 2 hours, 17 minutes, and 1 second.
Jepchirchir expressed her gratitude to BBC for covering her achievement. She mentioned that she had not expected to break a world record but had worked hard for it. She expressed joy at being in Paris for the marathon and hoped to defend her title successfully. In the men’s wheelchair race, Marcel Hug secured a record fourth consecutive win. He finished with a time of 1 hour, 28 minutes, and 33 seconds. Daniel Romanchuk from the United States came in second while Britain’s David Weir claimed third place in his 25th consecutive London Marathon.
Weir highlighted how challenging the conditions were during the race due to strong winds but expressed satisfaction with his performance. He described it as one of his best races on that course while keeping up with Marcel for over twenty miles. The women’s wheelchair race saw Catherine Debrunner from Switzerland win comfortably by finishing over five minutes ahead of her closest competitor Manuela Schar who secured second place making it a one-two victory for Switzerland while American Tatyana McFadden came in third place with British racer Eden Rainbow-Cooper finishing sixth.
Overall, it was an exciting event with several athletes breaking records or achieving personal best performances despite challenging weather conditions.
In addition to these achievements, there were other notable performances at this year’s London Marathon.
One of them was Elaine Ndipho Simba from South Africa who finished first among women under two hours with a time of 1 hour, 59 minutes and 59 seconds.
Another notable performance was that of Eliud Kipchoge from Kenya who broke his own world record by completing the marathon in two hours one minute and thirty-nine seconds.
Both athletes received widespread praise for their impressive achievements.
