Eliud Kipchoge and Tigist Tufa claim London Marathon victories

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/apr/26/ethiopia-tigist-tufa-london-marathon

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The Kenyan former world champion Eliud Kipchoge has won the 2015 London Marathon men’s race. He finished narrowly ahead of his fellow Kenyan and the 2014 winner, Wilson Kipsang.

At one stage the Kenyan breakaway front three – Kipchoge, Kipsang and the world record holder, Dennis Kimetto, who finished third – looked as though they may break the course record. However it was not to be, as Kipchoge finished with a time of 2:04:41, five seconds faster than Kipsang.

Ethiopia’s Tigist Tufa was a surprise winner in the women’s race with a time of 2:23:21. In what had been expected to be a battle between the Keynan runners, she became the first Ethiopian women’s champion since 2001.

In a relatively slow race – her time was more than eight minutes slower than Paula Radcliffe’s world record set in 2003 – Tufa finished a comfortable 18 seconds clear of Kenya’s two-time winner, Mary Keitany. Tufa’s compatriot Tirfi Tsegaye finished third.

Sonia Samuels was the leading British runner in 16th place, with a time of 2:31:45; well under the qualifying time for the Rio Olympics.

In her final marathon, Paula Radcliffe ended her career on a high with a finishing time of 2:36:55.

Britain’s David Weir finished second in the men’s wheelchair race. His time of 1:31:32 was just one second slower than the winner, Joshua George of the USA.