Bronze for Olympics champion Peres as Sifan Hassan overcomes injury scare to win London Marathon on her debut

On her marathon debut, Sifan Hassan overcame an injury scare midway through the race to win her first Marathon gold on the first time of asking at the London Marathon on Sunday after stopping the clock at 2:18:34.

Kenya's Peres Jepchirchir had to settle for a third spot despite being in the lead for the better part of the race while Ethiopia's Alemu Megertu took the second spot, clocking 2:18:37 and 2:18:38 respectively.

At some point, it seemed like Sifa Hassan's race was run when she stopped midway to stretch out a hip issue but the Dutch managed to shake off the problem and rejoin the leading pack just in time for the business end of the race.

The Kenyan contingent was dealt a dent very early in the race when World record holder over the distance in the women's race Brigid Kosgei had to pull out of the race with a hamstring problem.

Sheila Chepkirui, who was a late entrant in London, finished fourth while Judith Jeptum settled for a sixth-place finish.

The 5,000 and 10,000 metres Olympic gold medallist from the 2020 Tokyo Games had been in the leading group but was dropped and holding her side after the hour mark.

It would have been impressive enough had the Ethiopian-born Dutch runner just completed the course on the rainswept streets of the British capital, with Hassan then grabbing her hip and stopping to stetch off the injury.

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Hassan, however, recovered to rejoin the leaders with three miles to go.

Despite making a mess of collecting a drink from a water station, the 30-year-old recovered and even offered rival Yalemzerf Yehualaw, last year's winner, a swig from her bottle.

Hassan then burst clear of Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir in a sprint finish to win in a time of 2 hours, 18 minutes and 33 seconds.

It was the first time Jepchirchir had been defeated in a major marathon race.