Ethiopia dominated Sunday’s Berlin Marathon, winning both the men’s and women’s races and placing runners in five of the six podium places.
Milkesa Mengesha, 24, beat Kenya’s Sibryan Kotut by just five seconds in the men’s event, finishing the final stage in two hours, three minutes and 17 seconds.
Fellow Ethiopian Haymanot Alev finished third.
Tigist Ketema, 26, claimed victory in the women’s event in a time of two hours 16 minutes 42 seconds, more than two minutes ahead of compatriots Mestavot Fikir and Bosena Mulati.
Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa had broken the women’s world record in last year’s race with a time of 2:11:53, but Ketema was five minutes slower than that, yet her winning time was the third-fastest in the event.
Great Britain’s Kelly Hauger-Thackeray, 31, was the first European home athlete in seventh place, less than five minutes behind Ketema in 2:21:24. Sixth fastest marathon ever run by a British woman, external,
David Weir, 45, finished second in the men’s wheelchair race, one minute and 47 seconds behind Olympic champion Marcel Hug of Switzerland, who won in a time of 1:27:18.
It was the 50th running of the prestigious event but several big names were missing, with the race coming just a month after the end of the Paris Olympics.
Five-time winner Eliud Kipchoge of Kenya, who won the 2022 men’s race in a then world record time of 2:01:09, was among those not racing.