Kipchoge, Cheruiyot narrate sweetness of conquering London

Joining the list of the greatest marathon runners at the English capital was the biggest dream, for Olympic and two-time Berlin Marathon champion Eliud Kipchoge after winning his third title on Sunday 22 at the London Marathon.

Kipchoge, argued by pundits as the greatest marathoner in the modern era, said his main intention in London was to win a third title and not chase the world record that he missed by just eight seconds during his 2016 triumph.

In his own description, the soft spoken Kipchoge said he wanted to run a beautiful race, which indeed was.

“I enjoyed the race very much and I’m still enjoying the victory. I’m happy to win for the third time in London,” said the Rio 2016 Olympics Marathon title holder.

In addition to winning the race in 2:04.15, Kipchoge joined the ranks of Dionicio Ceron and Martin Lel as the only athletes with three London titles.

Ethiopian Shura Tola Kitata who ran most of the race step by step against Kipchoge was forced to settle for second place in 2:05.00 as debutant and four-time Olympic Champion Mohammed ‘Mo’ Faraha took third place in 2:06.32.

Olympics 5,000m silver medalist Vivian Cheruiyot could hardly hide her joy after she ran a well calculated race to bag her second title out three marathon races, competed since graduating from the track during the Rio 2016 Olympics Games in Brazil.

“I did not want to race against anybody; I was doing my own race. When I was at the 35km mark I saw Turnesh Dibaba ahead of me.  I knew I had enough energy and that I was going to catch up with her. After running for about 2000m I saw Mary Keitany and I passed her. I was like yes, today is my day and I’m going to be a London Marathon champion. I’m so happy for this victory,” said Cheruiyot with a telling smile.

Cheruiyot uncorked a Personal Best (PB) of 2:18.31 to become the fourth fastest woman in history.

The two-time 5000m World champion upstaged pre-race favorite and three-time London winner Mary Keitany to win her first title over the distance, leading Brigid Koskei (2:20:13) to a Kenyan 1-2.

“It was good at least I finished the race, because the weather was not good. It was really hot,” said Keitany.

Ethiopia’s Tadelech Bekele completed the podium bracket in 2:21.30 as Keitany trudged home in fourth, failing in her bid to break Paula Radcliffe’s 15-year-old world record.