Sporting Digest: Marathon

The South African Gert Thys won the Tokyo marathon in the second-fastest time in history yesterday. The 27-year-old clocked 2hrs 6 min 33sec, only 28 seconds outside the world best recorded by the Brazilian Ronaldo da Costa in Berlin last September.

TOKYO MARATHON (Japan unless stated) Men: 1 G Thys (SA) 2hr 6min 33sec; 2 H Miki 2:08.05; 3 K Shimizu 2:09.00; 4 L D Santos (Bra) 2:11.13; 5 W Okutani 2:11.24; 6 K Yokoyama 2:11.57; 7 T Inubushi 2:12.20; 8 N Horio 2:12.37; 9 L Shvetsov (Rus) 2:15.20;

10 J Otwori (Ken) 2:16.57.