Sifan Hassan won the London Marathon on Sunday in a dramatic debut after falling back with an early injury, beating Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir and defending champion Yelamzerf Yehualaw in what organisers said was the best ever elite women’s field for the event.
Hassan finished in two hours, 18 minutes and 34 seconds with a desperate sprint in the last 500 metres.
The 30-year-old middle-distance athlete looked to be in pain around the hip flexor just under an hour in, falling behind as she stopped and stretched, but she caught up again with the leading pack with just over six kms to go.
Hassan has snatched victory from the jaws of defeat before: in the 1500 metres at the Tokyo Olympics she took a hard tumble, picked herself up and charged ahead to win gold.
-Reuters
