Australia’s Madison de Rozario has won her second London Marathon in a course record following a frantic sprint finish.
De Rozario — the Tokyo Paralympic gold medallist in the T54 marathon — edged defending champion Manuela Schär of Switzerland by just one second in the women’s wheelchair race.
She crossed the line in one hour, 38 minutes and 51 seconds.
The 29-year-old first won the London Marathon in 2018.
De Rozario was competing less than a week after she finished second in the Boston Marathon.
Later, Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan won a dramatic women’s race in which she recovered from an apparent injury early in the race to beat a stacked field.
Hassan beat Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir and defending champion Yelamzerf Yehualaw in what organisers said was the best-ever elite women’s field for the event.
Hassan finished in two hours, 18 minutes and 34 seconds with a desperate sprint in the last 500 metres.
The 30-year-old middle-distance athlete looked to be in pain around the hip flexor after just under an hour, falling behind as she stopped and stretched.
But she caught up again with the leading pack with just over six kilometres to go.
“It was just amazing. I never thought I would finish a marathon and here I am winning it!” Hassan told the BBC after the race.
“It is one of my favourite marathons in the world. The crowd was so amazing and every single kilometre I was so grateful for them. I wasn’t going to stop.
“I had a problem with my hip, which made me stop. But it started to feel a little bit better.”
Hasan also missed a drink station during the run, saying she had not practised that aspect of the race because she had been fasting for Ramadan during her final training block.
“At 20km, I knew that I could kick on because I didn’t feel that tired and I didn’t care how I finished, I just wanted to get there.”
Hassan has snatched victory from the jaws of defeat before: In the 1500 metres at the Tokyo Olympics she took a hard tumble, picked herself up and charged ahead to win gold.
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In the men’s race, Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya cantered home to win in the second fastest marathon of all time, breaking the London course record with a time of two hours, one minute and 25 seconds.
He beat fellow countryman Geoffrey Kamworor by two minutes and 58 seconds after sprinting away in the final kilometres.
British Olympic legend Sir Mo Farah finished in ninth place in what the 40-year-old confirmed would be his final marathon.
ABC/Reuters
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