The Olympic silver medallist kicked away from Kenya\u2019s Joyciline Jepkosgei to clinch her first London Marathon win after finishing second to Peres Jepchirchir last year.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Jepchirchir\u2019s winning mark of 2:16:16 a year ago had also been a women-only world record and that is the mark Assefa improved, finishing strongly to win by almost three minutes ahead of Jepkosgei (2:18:43). Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands was third (2:18:59), the World Athletics reported.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Given the strength of the field, the women-only world record was always the target. With that in mind, the lead group of Jepkosgei, Assefa, Hassan and Megertu Alemu followed the pacemakers through 5 km in a blistering 15:34 \u2013 not only inside the targeted 2:15 pace, but on sub-2:12 rhythm.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The quartet maintained that pace through 10km, hitting that mark in 31:16. Assefa and Jepchirchir broke away by the halfway point, which they passed in 1:06:40, 10 seconds ahead of Hassan.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The leading pair continued to move away from the rest of the field and after 35 km was reached in 1:52:12, Assefa made a break. A 5:03 24th mile made the difference and by 40 km Assefa was 56 seconds ahead.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
She finished hard to stride over the finish line in 2:15:50 \u2013 the second-fastest marathon of her career behind the 2:11:53 she ran to win in Berlin in 2023, a mark that at the time was a world record for a women\u2019s marathon in a mixed race.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The leading pair continued to move away from the rest of the field and after 35 km was reached in 1:52:12, Assefa made a break. A 5:03 24th mile made the difference and by 40 km Assefa was 56 seconds ahead.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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