Jess Ennis-Hill visits Luke and Sophie, whose son Huxley was born with undiagnosed down’s syndrome and passed away aged just three days. They then had another baby, Ralphie, who had leukaemia, and both boys were treated at Great Ormond Street; he was discharged in March, and I’m sorry but I’m in absolute bits here. Luke’s best mate Sam is running the marathon for GOSH and the cancer centre it’s hoping to build.
l Jeanette is now on the Rainbow Road section of the course which celebrates LGBTQIA+ folk. The increased inclusion is so uplifting.
Mo Farah is with Gabby and says he’s had great support in London over the years and it was amazing today. His training was going well and he was confident of doing between 2.05 and 2.07 but you never know, he gave it his all, and his body didn’t respond when he asked it to. He knows it’s time to call it a day and as he was going along the course, part of him wanted to cry and even though it was pouring with rain, people were coming out of their houses, and it’s “quite emotional”. I’ll bet.
We cut to see young Mo running the mini-marathon and had someone told him at that age he’d be Olympic champ, he’d never have believed them. As he got older, his mindset changed, but he wants kids to know that if you graft anything is possible and he’d like to be able to give back to the younger generation. He never thought he could challenge the Kenyans and Ethiopians, but living and training with them showed him he could, and he’ll finish competing with the Great North Run in September. He’s looking forward to spending time with his family, and showing younger athletes what can be achieved with hard work. Effort, Mo.
Also going on:
BBC are playing Opus’ Live is Life, so of course it’s incumbent on me to stick this up.
Yesss, here’s Sifan! “It was really amazing,” she says. She never thought she could win, so can’t believe that she did. The crowd are amazing, she says, and every single kilometre she was grateful to be there. She’s so happy and it’s beautiful to see; she explains she has a pre-existing hip problem, hence the stretching, and because she was fasting she didn’t practise so didn’t know where to stop for drinks. At 20km she felt she wasn’t tired and was thinking about getting experience for her next marathon and at every moment she was grateful. She didn’t have confidence because she didn’t practise drinking and she found it really tough; she realised she didn’t have to have as much as she should. Living in the States, she used to set her alarm to watch this race, and now she’s won it she’ll never forget it. She’d been told she’d hurt, but felt much better after 35km than she thought, and when she saw the line she thought it that really it?! She needs to decide what race she’ll run at the Paris Olympics next summer but she’s so grateful. What an incredible racer and lovely person.
Kiptum’s time was 2:01.25. Kipchoge’s course record was 2:02:37, which he obliterated, but the world record, which could be his one day, remains Kipchoge’s 2:01:09.
I’d love to hear from Sifan Hassan – hopefully we get an interview soon.
“Guy Hornsby is right,” emails Krishnamoorthy V, “the right word to use is ‘insane’. I once ran a 10km run in a small town called Dolni Lohta in Czech Republic where the track was 5km up and 5 km back on the same way back. I was on the 2.5 km level when the leading pack of Kenyans passed me (in the opposite direction). By the time I finished they had collected their prize and were back at their hotel.”
Now here comes Farah, coming around the final corner, with someone on his shoulder – it’s Phil Sesserman, of GB, who blazes past, and now Farah finishes his final marathon. What a career!
Paula Radcliffe was saying earlier that London is thought to be a slow course but isn’t, and we’ve seen that today. Cairess finishes, bending over to expectorate, and he’ll be delighted with his sixth place, with beating Mo Farah too.
Kelvin Kiptum, though; Sifan Hassan, though. Our races have delivered and then some.
Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya comes through in a distant second; he and Kiptum embrace. Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia, the world champ, takes third, while Emile Cairess of GB, also making his marathon debut, is now sixth. What a run that is from him!
We’re still waiting for confirmation as to the time…
That is incredible! It’s only his second-ever race at the distance, only Eliud Kipchoge has run quicker than him, and we are witnessing the birth of a new star!
Is Kiptum slowing? I can only imagine the pain he’s in, but I don’t think he’s going to break the world mark; he veers to the wrong side of the road, following the bike, which costs him a couple of seconds, and yup, the world mark has gone. The course record, though, is annihilated. Go on Kelvin!
Kiptum ran 60.15 for the second half of the race in Valencia, the fastest such time ever; he looks set to break that here, dipping under an hour, which is just disgraceful behaviour. I can barely believe what I’m seeing!
Kiptum is really punishing the course now, sprinting to victory. The course record looks his, and even if he misses the world record, he’s going to bestow upon us one of the greatest times we’ve ever seen. Come on Kelvin!
He’s got the course record well within his sights too, and how quickly he destroyed the field was very impressive. At 40km, he’s 1.55:13 and the target is 2.02.37. He’s not actually that far off the world record, we learn; if he can find a serious finish, the time we’re talking is Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:01:09.
Kiptum is primarily self-coached, we learn, as he closes in on the tape. At just 23, he’s got plenty of time to improve himself too.
Sam Harrison of GB has smashed her PB by six minutes and is also tearful after crossing the line.
Kelvin Kiptum us still gobbling up the ems and he speeds towards the end. He’s not going as quickly as before, but he looks relaxed and is going to win by a long way in a decent time.
Andrew Cotter thinks that was the greatest marathon race he’s ever seen, and he should know. Early doors, Hassan was stopping to stretch, and it looked like all she’d achieve by continuing was unnecessary pain and potential damage. Er, perhaps not!
Megertu is in tears and understandably so – whatever the reason. The emotional dump of finishing a marathon, of finishing a race, of not winning, must be immense.
That is absolutely incredible! She trained through Ramadan, looked like she was going to drop out with injury, was way behind, worked her way back, and has now out-kicked the field! Megertu of Ethiopia is second, Jepchirchir of Kenya third. Wow wow wow!
Hassan goes! No one responds, and in her but marathon she is going to win! WOW!
But now Megertu leads, Jepchirchir on her shoulder, and does Hassan, 5000 and 10000 gold medalist in Tokyo, have it left?
Hassan is a track specialist, so should have the quickest finish, but she’s not used to the distance so who knows if she’s got it in her legs? 385 yards to go, and and Jepchirchir looks the strongest…
Chepkirui has dropped off, so we’re down to four. Jepchirchir leads, Megertu next, then Hassan, then Yehualaw … and Megertu goes! Yehualaw can’t respond, which tells you what I can tell, but Jepchirchir and Hassan are right there!
Kenya’s Kelvin Kiptum, who won in Valencia with the world’s fastest debut and fastest second half of a marathon, is way out in front now. Barring disaster, the race is in the bag.
There’ll be no world record today – the desire to win has trumped the need for speed. So we’ve still got our leading five and just over a mile to go; Hassan will fancy this, hard, and it’s hard not to root for her given the way she’s fought her way back into contention.
Jepchirchir drifts across to the drinks table and Hassan runs a few extra metres misjudging what she needed to do to get one. But she’s back with the group, offers Megertu, and the mind games are in progress.
“The speed of the elite runners is insane,” tweets Guy Hornsby. “It’s hard to comprehend how quick they run, especially given the sheer distance covered. They run a 10k as quickly as I run a 5km! What a run from Cairess today too, he’d have grown up watching Mo.”
Yup, one nails miles after an hour. I’d be struggling to keep up after 400m.
Kiptum is running strongly, but he turns to check the extent of his lead; behind him, Cairess has left Farah now, and looks a lock to finish as the fastest Briton.
Back with the men, Kiptum has escaped the pack. Kepruto, last year’s winner, has gone with him, sort of – he’s 30-405m behind – and we learn that Kiptum raced like this in Valencia a few months ago, hanging in there to win his first race over the distance.
I fancy Yehualaw, who looks to be strongest, but I’m guessing based on appearances. Hassan is now ahead of Chepkirui though, and what a story it’d be if she could see this out.
Go on Sifan! Hassan has caught the leaders! Not that long ago, we wondered if she’d drop out to save her season but now, running her first marathon, she’s in with a chance of winning and if she’s still with them with a mile to go, she’ll be a serious threat. Jepchirchir leads, Yehualaw follows; Megertu and Chepkirui are also still there. Jepchirchir, then, ups the pace, and presumably woulbn’t mind running the finish out of Hassan’s legs. Three miles to go, though; it’s on1
Cairess is ahead of Farah now, who’s trying to come back at him; they’ve just passed an ice cream van, which must’ve been tempting. The leaders have 8.6 miles to go and Kiptum still lead – h’es taken his hat off – and behind him are Tola, Kamworor, Tura and Legese – at least, I can’t quite see everyone.
Yehualaw looks strong and knows she can do it; Paula reckons it’ll be her or Jepchirchir who make a break, as Megertu and Chepkirui are hanging on.
The leading women: Yehualaw, the defending champ, Megertu, Jepchirchir and Chepkirui; Hassan is perhaps nine second behind, and the pace in front is slowing. Can she catch them? Will someone see her coming and stamp on the gas?
The leading women look a little bedraggled now, just a little more hunched in gait, but they’re still ploughing through. Farah, meantime, has Emile Cairess for company now, so they’ll duel for best British finisher.
Ah, there’s the great man! Bekele is still hanging onto the leading group, while Farah is a fair way behind now but still moving pretty quickly behind a pacemaker.
In the men’s race, Kiptum still leads, but he’s got six men behind him, among them Kipruto and Legese. The pace is pretty quick, but that might change is the race and rain take their tolls.
There are four leading now: Jepchirchir of Kenya, Yehualaw of Ethiopia, Megertu of Ethiopia and one more. I can’t quite see who, but it’s not Dibaba, who’s off the front with Korir.
Sifan Hassan, what a woman. She’s within 10m of the leading group now, Korir dropping off, and they increase the pace because the last thing they want is Hassan’s pace involved in the finish.
We’re halfway in the men’s race with Kelvin Kiptum leading. Geoffrey Kamworor is second followed by Amos Kipruto, Birhanu Legese, Tamirat Tola and Leul Gebresilase following.
It’s boiling!
Ah, Korir is back with the leading group.
Back with the women’s race, the pace is hot. Jepchirchir is pushing the pace while Hassan, still alone, has picked up the pace and is eating up the distance to the leading group. It’s amazing really. Also in the leading group are Megertu, Dibaba and Yehualaw, among others; Ayana has been dropped.
Manuela Schar of Swtzerland is second!
The tension is awesome here as we wait for someone to make a move. De Rosario hits the front and she leads by a length! Schar comes again…
We’re on Birdcage Walk now, Debrunner looking over her shoulder, and they’re jockeying for position a little. “This is where it all gets very stressful,” says Tanni, noting that all four riders have good sprint finishes, and reckons that you probably don’t want to lead, just sit off the lead.
We’re into the final stages of the women’s wheelchair, our leading four scooting along Victoria Embankment. You can feel the athletes building for the end now – they’re slowing a little – and the group is separated by about two metres, Debrunner in the last followed by Rosario followed by Scaroni followed by Schar.
In the women’s race, the lead group is smaller now. Jepchirchir leads with Dibaba, Megertu and Yehualaw also involved; they’ve dropped Korir. Meanwhile, David Weir finishes fifth in the men’s wheelchair.
Jetze Plat of the Netherlands – still very young in his marathon career – takes second in the men’s wheelchair race. He looks pretty happy with that.
In the women’s wheelchair race, it’s still that four tightly bunched, but now it’s Debrunner leading with Schar, who tried to escape, at the back of the group.
That was brilliant – he destroyed the field early doors and screamed away from them.
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