A marathon achievement for Hawkins

Scotland’ s call um hawkins produced a magnificent fourth place in only his fourth marathon to equal the best performance by a British man at a world championships.

The fast-finishing 25-year-old followed up on his ninth at the Rio Olympics to reach the Tower Bridge finish line in a placing only been matched in the event for Britain by Peter Whitehead in Gothenburg 22 years ago.

Hawkins clocked a personal best two hours 10 minutes 17 seconds but couldn’t catch Alphonce Felix Simbu of Tanzania to snatch the bronze.

It looked like he had been cut adrift when the leading group made a move at the halfway stage but he rallied to produce a grandstand finish, roared on by the large crowds lining the London streets.

“I was a bit annoyed that I could see him with 400m to go but couldn’t catch him,” said Hawkins.

Kenya’s Geoffrey Kirui won over four 10km loops on closed roads in 2hrs 8mins 27secs. Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola took silver.

Hawkins added: “I’m still only 25, but the guy who won it [24-year-old Kirui] was pretty young, so I’ve still got him to contend with for years. We’ll just see how it goes, on to the Commonwealth Games and then on to Tokyo.”