‘I’ve come good today’: Peres Jepchirchir wins London Marathon in women’s-only world record

On Sunday, the London Marathon witnessed the conclusion of the lengthiest cat and mouse game in the event's 43-year history. Peres Jepchirchir managed to outrun three competitors and secure the women's-only world record on the Mall.

The amount of time taken by the Olympic champion to complete the race was 2 hours, 16 minutes and 16 seconds. This time was faster than the previous record set by Mary Keitany in 2017, where women participate in races without male pacers, by 51 seconds.

Actually, it wasn't unexpected for Keitany's time to decrease considering the strong competition she faced. However, the most surprising outcome was that Tigst Assefa, who broke the women's world record with a time of 2:11:38 last year, could only come in second place, trailing behind by seven seconds.

Jepchirchir expressed her delirious happiness after winning and breaking the world record in the race. She had not anticipated setting a new world record, considering the challenges of the other strong contenders. However, she performed amazingly well and achieved a personal best.

When the women began their run at 9:25 am, the weather was unusually cold at only 7 degrees Celsius. It was even cold enough for Jepchirchir to wear a black hat to stay warm. At the start, they ran very quickly, covering the first three miles at a pace faster than Assefa's world record.

However, it had already stabilized well before the pacemakers withdrew, which happened just after the halfway point.

Once the race transformed from a time trial into an actual race, Jepchirchir noticed that she began to lose ground. Nonetheless, she wasn't upset about it because it actually played to her advantage. She was informed that this would help her with her final sprint to the finish line.

The shadowing operations carried on for a long distance without any of the four women leading the way. This group included Jepchirchir, Assefa, Joyciline Jepkosgei who won in 2021, and Megertu Alemu who came in second place last year. None of them wanted to increase the pace of the race. However, when Jepchirchir made a move and picked up the pace with only 600 metres left to go, she quickly secured the win.

"I find that having a powerful finishing sprint is very advantageous," she stated. "Once I hit the 800m mark, it becomes challenging for my opponents to beat me. I believe last year's setback was due to the rainy conditions. I had to wait until the 600m mark as the wind was quite strong."

She is aware that the upcoming show will give her the chance to uphold her Olympic championship in Paris. Although it won't be a walk in the park, she has faith that she'll do well this summer.

In another location, Marcel Hug came in first place for the fourth time in a row in the men's wheelchair race. David Weir from Britain took third place and has now participated in the London Marathon for 25 years in a row. The women's wheelchair race was won by a Swiss competitor named Catherine Debrunner. She completed the race with a significant lead of over five minutes ahead of the runner-up.