Kenya's Kipchoge beats Ethiopia's Kitata to win 2018 London Marathon
Kenyan athlete Eliud Kipchoge raced to gold in the 2018
London marathon held on Sunday beating off competition from Ethiopia’s
Tola Kitata and United Kingdom’s Mo Farah who finished second and third
respectively.
It is his third victory in London having previously won the
title twice in succession. He finished the race in a time of 02:04:17.
The runner-up came in with 02:04:49.
He took a break from the London Marathon last year to try to run a
sub-two-hour marathon in Italy, Kipchoge returned to add to his 2015 and
2016 titles with ease, finishing ahead of Ethiopia’s Tola Shura Kitata
and just two-and-a-half minutes off Dennis Kimmetto’s world record.
According to Reuters, Kipchoge raced out of the start, with the
leading group registering a blistering opening mile of four minutes 22
seconds, but saw his flying start drop as temperatures rose over 20
degrees Celsius.
"The crowd were really wonderful - I loved them." @EliudKipchoge after his Virgin Money London Marathon win today! #LondonMarathon #SpiritofLondon pic.twitter.com/J7SZqULJkg— London Marathon (@LondonMarathon) April 22, 2018
Farah finished third but with a British record time. He overcame
early setbacks that put him way behind leader Kipchoge but still
registered a time of 2:06:32 to break Steve Jones’s British record
achieved in 1985.
“My season has been really good and my training actually doesn’t
need to be tested. It doesn’t need to have a race in Europe or America
or anywhere to test my body. So the training is fully actually testing
my body,” Kipchoge has stated ahead of the race.
Kipchoge has now won nine career marathons – including Hamburg,
Rotterdam, Chicago, London, Berlin and Rio – he holds the London course
record during his victory in 2016.
📰 The Ratified Results:— London Marathon (@LondonMarathon) April 22, 2018
1. @EliudKipchoge - 02:04:17
2. Tola Kitata - 02:04:49
3. Sir @Mo_Farah - 02:06:21
4. @AbelKirui1 - 02:07:07
5. Bedan Karoki - 02:08:34
6. @KenenisaBekele - 02:08:53
7. Lawrence Cherono - 02:09:25
8. @DanielWanjiru13 - 02:10:35#LondonMarathon
The 2018 edition has been tagged one of the world’s warmest events.
“So it is the warmest on record. There is a context that it is slightly
warmer than we have had previously. We have this advice going out from
our medical director and I just wanted to let everyone know that’s the
current situation,” an organizing official said.
2016 Berlin Marathon winner Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele was targeting
a first victory in the London edition but he ended up at sixth position
with a time of 02:08:53.
Source: Africanews
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