Amos Kipruto floors Ethiopians to win men's London Marathon title

Kenya's Amos Kipruto on Sunday afternoon won the men's London Marathon in his first appearance in the race.

A world bronze medallist in Doha in 2019, 30-year-old Kipruto broke away from the pack late in the race with a powerful surge and finished in 2:04:39 ahead of Ethiopia's Leul Gebresilase who was second in 2:05:12, with Bashir Abdi of Belgium completing the podium in 2:05:19.

Bekele, one of the runners who dropped off that leading pack early, managed to stay competitive and pip Legese and Lemma to a fifth place finish in 2:05:53 after Kinde Atanaw who was fourth in 2:05:27.

Bekele,40, ran his personal best at the 2019 Berlin Marathon - 2:01:41 - and has not run within four minutes of that time since.

Kipruto had never won a major marathon but did finish second behind world record holder Eliud Kipchoge in Tokyo (2022) and Berlin (2018) and third at the world championships (2019) and Tokyo (2018).

INCREDIBLE RUN! ??@AmoskiprutoS1 wins his first TCS London Marathon after a brilliant breakaway.#LondonMarathon #WeRunTogether pic.twitter.com/t5l8USpuws

Major marathon season continues next Sunday with the Chicago Marathon, headlined by a women's field that includes Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich.

Elsewhere, in the men's elite wheelchair race, Marcel Hug was able to successfully defend his title in a course record time of 1:24:38.

This year's London Marathon marks the third and final time it will take place in October - moved because of the Covid-19 pandemic - with the race returning to its traditional spring date in 2023.

The top seven men's finishers

Amos Kipruto 2:04:39Leul Gebresilase 2:05:12Bashir Abdi 2:05:19Kinde Atanaw 2:05:27Kenenisa Bekele 2:05:53Birhanu Legese 2:06:11Sisay Lemma 2:07:26