In her first race since winning Olympic marathon gold in Paris, Sifan Hassan battled to a third-place finish in the London Marathon on Sunday (27) in 2:19:00.
Hassan dropped off the pace before the 20 kilometre mark and while the Dutchwoman memorably won the London Marathon on her debut two years ago in dramatic come-from-behind style, history did not repeat itself on this occasion.
Tigist Assefa, who had to settle for silver behind Hassan in a high-octane conclusion to the marathon at the Paris 2024 Olympics, won the title in a women’s only world record of 2:15:50 by almost three minutes ahead of Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei in 2:18:44 with Hassan rounding off the podium in third in 2:19:00.
"It was tough. I'm happy with third place, because I did my best. Assefa and Jepkosgei were too strong," said Hassan, who admitted she was struggling with breathing problems on a warm morning in the British capital.
National records fall in London
Behind Hassan, Sofiia Yaremchuk improved her Italian record to 2:23:14 to finish seventh while multiple European medallist Eilish McColgan was eighth on her highly-awaited marathon debut, setting a Scottish record of 2:24:25.
"In the end I gave it my all when I saw the possibility of the record. I already knew the London course and I also relied on the experience of two years ago," said Yaremchuk who shaved two seconds off her Italian record of 2:23:16 set in the 2023 Valencia Marathon.
In the men’s race which was won by Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe in 2:02:27, Abdi Nageeye just missed out on a place on the podium in a sprint finish with last year’s winner Alexander Mutiso but the New York Marathon winner was rewarded with a Dutch record of 2:04:20 to move to fourth on the European all-time list.
Germany’s Amanal Petros, who led in the middle stages of the race, finished eighth in 2:06:30 with Mahamed Mahamed the top British finisher in ninth in 2:08:52.
Paris 2024 Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee, who ran in the 10,000m at the 2018 European Athletics Championships in Berlin, was 14th on his marathon debut in 2:11:08.