Kenya’s Mary Keitany broke the women’s-only world record to win the London Marathon on Sunday.
Keitany, 35, crossed the finish line on The Mall in 2:17:01, the second-fasted time in history.
It was 41 seconds quicker than four-time Olympian Paula Radcliffe’s time when she won the event in 2005.
In an interview with the BBC, Keitany said: “It was a great day for me. It was really amazing, to run the best time.
“The weather was good at the beginning, it was nice for me and my pace. I’ve run my best.”
When Keitany first broke into the scene she hit the ground running with a silver at the 2007 IAAF World Road Running Championships, becoming the World Half Marathon Champion two years later.
She won the 2012 London Marathon with a personal best of 2:18:37 – making her the second fast woman ever in the event.
Her personal best of 1:05:50 in the half marathon is the former women’s world record. She also held the world record in the women’s 16 kilometres (50:05), 20 kilometres (62:36), and the 25 kilometres (1:19:53).
In the men’s race, Kenyan Daniel Wanjiru, 24, won the with a time of 2:05:56. Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia came in second.
Wanjiru said he felt comfortable running at world-record pace for sections of the race and is still aiming to break Dennis Kimetto’s time of 2:02:57, set in Berlin in 2014.
“In the beginning the race was very fast and we were inside world record pace. It was the pace I was preparing for,” he told the BBC.
“We tried to maintain that pace for half of the race. From there it was becoming tougher and tougher. The sun was coming and the day was beautiful – but we don’t need too much sun!”
