London Marathon: Munyao shows resilience to win as Bekele makes history

Kenya secured a double at the London Marathon after Alexander Mutiso Munyao won the men’s race in 2:04:01 to beat Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia by 14 seconds.

Peres Jepchichir won the women's race where she smashed the record to put a new one in place on Sunday, April 21, 2024.

Meanwhile, the men's leading group remained together into the second half and that means the real battle was witnessed in the cloisng stages.

Notably, the late Kelvin Kiptum’s world of 2:00:35 and course record of 2:01:25 were not being targeted by the elite men. However, a leading pack of 12 set off at a respectable pace as they went through 5km in 14:35 and 10km in 29:03.

The pack was still tight through 15km which was covered in 58:20 as Munyao, Bekele, 2022 world champion Tamirat Tola and 2021 Chicago winner Seifu Tura were all in.

Munyao and his rivals reached halfway in 1:01:29 with 10 men still running together, more than 80 seconds ahead of Britain’s Emile Cairess, who was running alone in 13th place. 

However, the lead pack was down to five men with 1:30 on the clock: Munyao, Bekele, Tola, Ethiopia’s Dawit Wolde and compatriot Milkesa Mengesha were emerging as strong contenders for the London crown for this year. 

However, less than 10 minutes later, Tola and Wolde had dropped and left Bekele, Munyao and Mengesha as the lead trio. Mengesha lasted five more minutes before he also succumbed to the pace, unable to stick with Munyao and the 41-year-old history-making Bekele.

Munyao finally dropped multiple world and Olympic gold medallist Bekele before the clock ticked over to 1:55. The Kenyan maintained the pace and crossed the finish line in 2:04:01 ahead of legendary Bekele who clocked 2:04:15, which is the fastest time ever run by an athlete over the age of 40, according to World Athletics.

Men's London Marathon results

Alexander Mutiso Munyao (KEN) 2:04:01

Kenenisa Bekele (ETH) 2:04:15

Emile Cairess (GBR) 2:06:46

Mahamed Mahamed (GBR) 2:07:05

Hassan Chahdi (FRA) 2:07:30

Henok Tesfay (ERI) 2:09:22

Hendrik Pfeiffer (GER) 2:10:00

Kinde Atanaw (ETH) 2:10:03

Johannes Motschmann (GER) 2:10:39

Brian Schrader (USA) 2:10:50