Yehualaw floored, yet still wins
Ghebresilasie and Harvey are top Brits in thrilling TCS London Marathon
The 42nd TCS London Marathon saw victories for two debutants in rather different and quite remarkable circumstances. Ethiopia's 23-year-old Yalemzerf Yehualaw (2:17:26) just missed her PB by three seconds as she became the youngest ever winner – only 25 seconds outside the women's only world record in her second marathon having made the fastest-ever marathon debut in Hamburg in April (2:17:23) which she won by nine minutes in windy conditions.
Yehualaw's time was the third-quickest ever seen on the London course, yet her win was looking far from certain after she fell heavily on a speed bump in the road with about six miles to run. Despite losing time and bruising her hip, knee, and head in a spectacular face plant, the London champion simply powered away from defending champion Joyciline Jepkosgei (Kenya, 2:18:07) and Alemu Megurtu (Ethiopia, 2:18:32).
The men's elite race saw a first-ever Abbott World Marathon Majors victory for Amos Kipruto (2:04:39) after 13 attempts and numerous near misses. The 30-year-old Kenyan produced an unanswerable kick to break clear of Leul Gebresilase (Ethiopia, 2:05:12) and Sir Mo Farah's occasional training partner, Bashir Abdi (Belgium, 2:05:19).
Sir Mo's chances were destroyed by an obstinate hip injury and in his absence there was a breakthrough by former Eritrean asylum seeker Weynay Ghebresilasie (Shettleston Harriers, 2:11:57) who held on for first British athlete honours despite a tightening hamstring. Last year's top Brit, Phil Sesemann (Leeds City, 2:12:10) also made the top ten and Ross Braden (Blackheath & Bromley, 2:14:32) was 12th, with PBs all round for the GB trio.
Just two British athletes were on the elite women's start line and both made the top dozen finishers. Rose Harvey (Clapham Chasers, 2:27:59) put her DNF in the World Championships in July behind her as the much more experienced Steph Twell (Aldershot, 2:39:16) had a torrid time, but finished 12th.
In the mass race, the leading British finishers from 41,000 starters were Thomas Frith (Southend, 2:18:35 PB) and Hannah Alderson (Yate, 2:35:56 PB). The race also hosted the Abbott World Marathon Majors Wanda World Age Group Championships and the winners were M40 Gary Laybourne (South London Harriers, 2:21:07 PB) and W40 Helen Gaunt (Tonbridge, 2:39:10) – who took an amazing 10 minutes off her PB to go second on the 2022 UK rankings.
The sun broke through leaden skies and the BBC coverage showed the capital in all its glory as 38,156 finishers were officially registered by 5:00pm on Sunday (2 October) in the third London Marathon to be shifted by the Covid pandemic to the autumn.
Next year's TCS London Marathon is on Sunday 23 April and the public ballot is open now.
Link to results and previous reports at runABC South race listing here
Image courtesy TCS London Marathon