Kebede deny Kenyans to take 2010 Virgin London Marathon crown

By Yomi Omogbeja | 25 April 2010 - 2:26pm
Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia wins the 2010 London Marathon

Olympic bronze medallist Tsegaye Kebede of Ethiopia ended Kenya's hope of a seventh successive London men's marathon title with a dominant victory at the 2010 Virgin London Marathon in two hours, five minutes and 19 seconds.

Last year's runner-up Kebede, who incidentally also won the 2009 Fukuoka Marathon in a PB of 2:05:18, improved on his 2009 podium position crossing the line more than a minute ahead of world silver medallist, Emmanuel Mutai of Kenya (2:06.23) and Jaouad Gharib of Morocco (2:06:55) in third.

Defending champion Sammy Wanjiru of Kenya and his compatriot, all-time world number two, Duncan Kibet were among the top elite athletes who failed to finish the race.

Russia's Liliya Shobukhova won the women's race in a new personal best of two hours, 22 minutes ahead of her compatriot Inga Abitova who settled for second in 2:22.19.

Ethiopia's Aselefech Mergia held on for third position in 2:22.38.

Selected Results

Men
Place
Name BIB Time
1 Kebede, Tsegaye (ETH) 5 02:05:19
2 Mutai, Emmanuel (KEN) 7 02:06:23
3 Gharib, Jaouad (MAR) 6 02:06:55
4 Bouramdane, Abderrahime (MAR) 9 02:07:33
5 Kirui, Abel (KEN) 3 02:08:04
6 Gomes dos Santos, Marilson (BRA) 10 02:08:46
7 Tadese, Zersenay (ERI) 16 02:12:03
8 Lemoncello, Andrew (GBR) 17 02:13:40
9 Kifle, Yonas (ERI) 8 02:14:39
10 Jones, Andi (GBR) 21 02:16:38

Women
Place
Name BIB Time
1 Shobukhova, Liliya (RUS) 113 02:22:00
2 Abitova, Inga (RUS) 117 02:22:19
3 Mergia, Aselefech (ETH) 115 02:22:38
4 Bekele, Bezunesh (ETH) 108 02:23:17
5 Tafa, Askale (ETH) 107 02:24:39
6 Akaba, Yukiko (JPN) 116 02:24:55
7 Bai, Xue (CHN) 110 02:25:18
8 Smith, Kim (NZL) 118 02:25:21
9 Ozaki, Mari (JPN) 112 02:25:43
10 Yamauchi, Mara (GBR) 109 02:26:16