Ethiopian Assefa Shatters Women's Marathon Record In London Win

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ethiopian assefa shatters womens marathon record in london win

Ethiopia's Tigst Assefa shattered the women's-only world record in winning the 45th London Marathon on Sunday, while Kenyan Sebastian Sawe made a brilliant tactical decision to demolish a stacked men's field en route to victory.

The 28-year-old Assefa, silver medallist in the event at last year's Paris Olympics, pulled away from Joyciline Jepkosgei of Kenya over the final few kilometres after the two had set a blistering early pace.

She crossed the finish line in two hours, 15 minutes and 50 seconds, beating the previous women's-only record of 2:16:16 set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.

Jepkosgei, 31, finished second in 2:18:44.

The sizzling early pace was too much for reigning Olympic marathon champion and 2024 London winner Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, who fell back off the leaders around the halfway mark en route to finishing third in 2:19:00.