Cheruiyot claims women’s elite title

London : Kenya’s Vivian Cheruiyot won the 2018 London Marathon but Paula Radcliffe’s ‘mixed-gender’ race world record remained intact.

Cheruiyot, 34, crossed the finish line in an personal best two hours, 18 minutes and 31 seconds.

That was more than three minutes slower than the 2:15:25 four-time British Olympian Radcliffe ran in 2003.

Mary Keitany and Tirunesh Dibaba had been looking to break Radcliffe’s record but both faded.

Olympic 5,000m champion Cheruiyot ran her first marathon in London last year and finished fourth overall before winning in Frankfurt in October.

Kenya’s Brigid Kosgei (2:20:13) finished second, with Ethiopia’s Tadelech Bekele (2:21:30) third.

Keitany had been on course to break Radcliffe’s record but eventually finished fifth (2:24:27) having lost the lead she had held from the start with around five miles remaining. Great Britain’s Lily Partridge (2:29:24) claimed a personal best to finish eighth, with team-mate Tracy Barlow (2:32:09) ninth.

Keitany had made her intentions clear before the race by running with male pacemakers in an attempt to overhaul Radcliffe’s record.

And everything looked in control through 10km before Keitany began to pull slightly clear of Dibaba at nine and a half miles, half a minute quicker than Radcliffe.

Keitany’s problems emerged with around 10 miles to go and she eventually fell 14 seconds behind the world record pace after 18 miles.