Sir Mo beats the marathon heat to run into the history books
● Multiple Olympic champion sets a new British record time to finish third as more than 40,000 runners take part
It was a day for records tumbling in the sweltering heat of the 2018 London Marathon, as an exhausted Sir Mo Farah broke the marathon record by a British athlete as he finished third in the men’s race, despite an initial 11-second discrepancy between the two official times.
It was a day for records tumbling in the sweltering heat of the 2018 London Marathon, as Sir Mo Farah, wheelchair athlete David Weir and Mother Nature all made contributions to the showpiece event.
An exhausted Sir Mo broke the marathon record by a British athlete as he finished third in the men’s race, despite an initial 11-second discrepancy between the two official times.
The 35-year-old multiple Olympic and world gold medallist struggled with the pace, the hot conditions and mixups over water bottles, but he still beat Steve Jones’ 33-year- oldrecordwithatime–ratified more than an hour after crossing the line – of two hours, six minutes and 21 seconds.
Race organisers had previously urged runners to reconsider aiming for personal bests and suggested ditching the fancy dress costumes amid the unseasonably warm April weather. It would go on to be the warmest London Marathon on record, with the Met Office posting highs of 23.2C (73.8F) – beating the previous best of 22.7C (72.8F) set in 1996.
Elsewhere on the track, sixtime Paralympic gold medallist Weir won the men’s wheelchair race for an unprecedented eighth time.
Sir Mo said he would spend time with his family after not seeing his children due to a strict training regime in Ethiopia during the past three months. He said: “It slowed down after halfway, from there you pay the price, you can’t go off that fast and come away with 2.02.”
Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya won the men’s race in a time of two hours, four minutes and 16 seconds, while compatriot Vivian Cheruiyot won the women’s race in two hours, 18 minutes and 31 seconds.
Those not competing in the elite races received a royal send-off as the Queen pushed the event’s start button, sending thousands of competitors pounding 26.2 miles through the capital’s streets.
More than 40,000 marathon runners then proceeded to follow hot on their heels. Among this year’s runners were firefighters who tackled the Grenfell Tower blaze, a police officer stabbed in the London Bridge terror attack and members of the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust.
Meanwhile, almost 100 runners lined up to attempt Guinness World Records – dressed variously in suits of armour, as mythical creatures and wearing stilts and ski boots. A record 386,050 people applied for this year’s race – almost a third more than last year and the highest number for any marathon in the world.