Wanjiru sets London marathon's course mark
Kenya Olympic champion Sammy Wanjiru has won the men's race at the 2009 Flora London Marathon.
Wanjiru smashed Martin Lel's one-year-old course record to secure victory in the 42.2-kilometre race in a personal best time of 2 hours, five minutes and 10 seconds, finishing 10 seconds ahead of Beijing bronze-medallist Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia (2:05:20).
Two-time world champion Jaouad Gharib of Morocco, who took Olympic silver in Beijing, had to be satisfied with third this time around, 17 seconds adrift of the winner with 2:05:27.
Wanjiru had earlier predicted he would break Haile Gebrselassie's world record of 2:03:59, but a crazy early speed put paid to such hopes as the leaders sped through half way in 61:35 after setting off inside two hour pace means they could never maintain such a high tempo.
He said after the race that "a course record is very good but in the end it was better to win the race because of all the good runners around me".
Wanjiru now moves into seventh place on all-time list ahead of Martin Lel while Kebede moves into the top 10. Also the times of the three medallists makes the average of London's ten best times the second quickest in the world, just two seconds on average slower than the Berlin marathon.
World champion and Glo Lagos Half marathon winner Luke Kibet of Kenya was also forced to withdraw at 25km.
Defending champion Martin Lel withdrew Saturday after failing to recover from a hip injury, ending his bid to become the first man to win the London race four times.
First woman
Irina Mikitenko of Germany claimed a second successive women's title crossing the line one minute and one second ahead of Great Britain's Mara Yamauchi and Russian Liliya Shobukhova to become the first woman to retain the London title for six years.
The 36-year-old produced a commading performance as she broke away from the field after 20 miles and led the field across the line in 2:22:11, improving on her 2008 time by more than two minutes.
Mikitenko said afterwards: "I was always confident that I had it in my legs and after 20 miles I saw no reason why I couldn't win. I felt once I pushed the pace a little the others wouldn't follow."
"I was stronger today but in the last 3km I really had to fight as I was leading the race and the wind was a little hard.
"But the race was awesome. Of course, I was under pressure as the title defender but I trained really well and now I can't believe I have won for the second time in a row at the London Marathon. I am so happy," she added.
Ethiopian Berhane Adere was fourth in 2.25.30, Inga Abetova took fifth in 2.25.55. Catherine Ndereba in 2.26.22 is sixth.
Men's Results
Samuel Wanjiru (Kenya) 2:05.10
Tsegaye Kebede (Ethiopia) 2:05.20
Jaouad Gharib (Morocco) 2:05.27
Emmanuel Mutai (Kenya) 2:06:53
Hendrick Ramaala (South Africa) 2:07:44
Abderrrahim Goumri (Morocco) 2:08:25
Yonas Kifle (Eritrea) 2:08:28
Women Results
Irina Mikitenko (Germany) 2:22.11
Mara Yamauchi (Great Britain) 2:23.12
Liliya Shobukova (Russia) 2.24.24
