Eric Kiptanui beat Ethiopia’s Abebe Degefa in a thrilling sprint to clinch the eDreams Mitja Marato men’s marathon.
Kiptanui, who had clocked 3:37 over 1500m at the high altitude of Nairobi, needed to draw from his energy reverse in a late sprint to grab the IAAF Gold Label road race, on Sunday.
Kiptanui used that speed to overtake the Ethiopians in the closing metres to romp home in 1:01:44, after covering the final kilometre in 2:30.
Degefa clocked just a second back with Getahun rounding off the podium, another two seconds in arrears.
Kenyans Jonathan Korir (1:01:10) and Meshak Koech (1:01:21) came fourth and seventh respectively.
Sally Chepyego settled for third place in the women’s race that had been billed as a serious attack on the world record by the rising Ethiopian star Roza Dereje.
Dereje came up short-form shuttering the world record, but still clocked 1:06:01 to clip a full minute from her previous lifetime best.
Paced throughout by her fellow Ethiopian Fekele Darsema, Dereje’s early rhythm proved too slow for the record assault, with the opening five kilometres covered in 15:37, some 15 seconds behind world record pace. By then only Kuma and Lucy Cheruiyot remained with Dereje, with Kenya’s Sally Chepyego another 12 seconds back and her compatriot Celestine Chepchirchir a distant fifth, 48 seconds behind the leaders.
Lucy Cheruiyot settled finished fourth after clocking 1:08:32 ahead of Great Britain’s Charlotte Arter.
Men – Eric Kiptanui (KEN) 1:01:04, Abebe Degefa (ETH) 1:01:05, Betesfa Getahun (ETH) 1:01:07, Jonathan Korir (KEN) 1:01:10,Napoleon Solomon (SWE) 1:01:17, Robel Fsiha (SWE) 1:01:19, Meshak Koech (KEN) 1:01:21, Ashenafi Moges (ETH) 1:01:22, Rui Pinto (POR) 1:02:56, Samuel Barata (POR) 1:02:59
Women -Roza Dereje (ETH) 1:06:01, Dibaba Kuma (ETH) 1:06:45, Sally Chepyego (KEN) 1:08:30, Lucy Cheruiyot (KEN) 1:08:32, Charlotte Arter (GBR) 1:09:41, Silenat Yismaw (ETH) 1:10:45, Ann-Marie Mcglynn (GBR) 1:12:00, Miriam Dattke (GER) 1:12:17, Sonia Samuels (GBR) 1:12:20, Lily Partidge (GBR) 1:12:20.
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