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London Marathon 2018: Mo Farah breaks 33-year-old British record as Eliud Kipchoge wins

Farah followed the Kenyan home in a time of 2:06:32 beating Steve Jones' mark

Sunday 22 April 2018 13:13 BST
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2018 London Marathon in numbers

Mo Farah broke the British marathon record as he came home third in the London Marathon.

Kenya's Eliud Kipchoge, winner in 2015 and 2016, made it a hat-trick of victories in sweltering conditions in the capital with Ethiopia's Shura Kitata Tola second.

Farah followed them home with an unofficial time of two hours, six minutes and 32 seconds beating Steve Jones' 33-year-old mark.

The 35-year-old, who won gold in the 5,000m and 10,000m in the past two Olympic Games, admitted his second full marathon had taken its toll in a race where there was a world record pace at the halfway point.

Farah was cheered home down The Mall (Reuters)

"I am knackered. The guys went for it, they were on for world record pace, so it was do or die. I went with it and hung in as much as I could," he said afterwards.

"It's so different to the track. It's incredible. It's different pain, different training but I've really enjoyed it. I gave it all, 110 per cent as I normally do.

"I've got a long way to go in the marathon. You get heavy legs. Mentally you've just got to be strong, take your drink and just pace yourself."

Discussing his hash of collecting his water bottle, Farah added: "The drinks station was quite confusing. I went to pick it up but it was the staff. They were helpful towards the end but at the beginning someone was trying to take a picture."

"I was saying to the people on motorbikes to tell the staff to be a bit helpful instead of taking pictures. I wasn't wasting energy, I just needed a drink. I had to get it right.

"I really enjoyed today, I gave 110% like I always do. I've got a lot to learn about the marathon but as long as I can keep doing it. I haven't seen my kids in three months and I am excited to see them."

Earlier Olympic 5,000m champion Vivian Cheruiyot won the women's race at her second attempt.

The Olympic 5,000m and 10,000m champion crossed the line in a record time (Getty)

Cheruiyot came home in an unofficial personal best 2 hours, 18 minutes, 30 seconds, meaning that Paul Radcliffe’s 2:15.25 ‘mixed-gender’ race world record remains intact.

Fellow Kenyan, Brigid Kosgei, was 1 minute, 42 seconds further back. Tadelech Bekele of Ethiopia was third.

Great Britain's Lily Partridge (2:29:29) claimed a personal best to finish eighth.

Farah collapsed with exhaustion afterwards (AP)

There was more home success with David Weir winning the men's wheelchair race for an eighth time after a sprint finish.

The 38-year-old Weir clocked 1:31:15 to beat Marcel Hug of Switzerland into second place, while Daniel Romanchuk of the United States was third.

Madison de Rozario of Australia won the women's wheelchair race for the first time ahead of four-time champion Tatyana McFadden, whose fellow American, Susannah Scaroni, was third.

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