AbbottWMM - 2021 Virgin Money London Marathon Men's & Women's Race Recap

2021/10/7

Women's Marathon: LONDON JOY FOR JOYCILINE

Joyciline Jepkosgei stormed to victory in the Virgin Money London Marathon to take a huge stride towards the Abbott World Marathon Majors Series XIII title.

The TCS New York City Marathon champion added the London title to her CV in emphatic fashion, with defending champion Brigid Kosgei well-beaten in fourth place.

Jepkosgei clocked 2:17:43 ahead of Ethiopia's Degitu Azimeraw and Ashete Bekere.

The Kenyan now draws level with Kosgei on 50 points at the top of the AbbottWMM leaderboard but holds the head-to-head advantage over the world record holder after today's contest.

The 27-year-old began to make her move between the 35 and 40km mark of a race that featured the current Tokyo, New York and London champions, as well as Berlin's 2019 winner Ashete Bekere.

Kosgei's short turnaround from the Tokyo Olympics was always going to cast doubt over her readiness to make it three London titles in a row, and it proved to be so for the double Chicago and London champion, who began to lose touch with the leaders even before her compatriot took the initiative.

Jepkosgei's winning time smashed her previous best of 2:18:40 in a race where the first five all dipped under 2:20.

"I'm so happy to be the winner," she said.

"I didn't realise it was a personal best for me. A one-minute improvement is huge, but I was feeling great when I was training and I really thought I could do well here."

"I'm very excited, but for me it was about my goal of self-achievement by improving my time this year."

Men's Marathon: LEMMA TAKES THE LONDON LIMELIGHT

Sisay Lemma ended his wait for an Abbott World Marathon Majors title as he streaked to victory in the London sunshine.

Until Sunday, the Ethiopian had managed no better than a third place in his marathon career, earning that spot in both Tokyo and London in last year's elite only races.

But today he was not to be denied as he set off from Blackheath, this time with the returning masses following the elite men through the starting gate.

Lemma's fellow Ethiopian Shura Kitata was fancied to be in contention to retain the crown he won last year, but a hamstring problem he flagged to the media in the pre-race press conference was clearly still an issue, and he was soon well down on the leading pack.

Lemma remained safely tucked into a group containing Tokyo champion Birhanu Legese and last year's second place London finisher Vincent Kipchumba as well as regular podium finisher Mosinet Geremew.

Lemma finally made his move between 35 and 40km, and as he stretched away from his rivals there was no response, his winning time of 2:04:01 some 27 seconds ahead of Kipchumba who came second for the second straight year with Geremew in third.

Full leaderboards.