London Marathon 2023: Sifan Hassan and Kelvin Kiptum win elite races – as it happened

Which means we’re all done here. Thanks all for your company and comments – enjoy the rest of the weekend. Peace out.

Here’s Sean Ingle’s report of a sensational set of races.

Ah man, Ralphie, Luke and Sophie are now with Gabby, and how great that is to see. They talk about what a happy place GOSH is, and yeah, support it.

Jess Ennis-Hill visits Luke and Sophie, whose son Huxley was born with undiagnosed down’s syndrome and passed away aged just three days. They then had another baby, Ralphie, who had leukaemia, and both boys were treated at Great Ormond Street; he was discharged in March, and I’m sorry but I’m in absolute bits here. Luke’s best mate Sam is running the marathon for GOSH and the cancer centre it’s hoping to build.

l Jeanette is now on the Rainbow Road section of the course which celebrates LGBTQIA+ folk. The increased inclusion is so uplifting.

Mo Farah is with Gabby and says he’s had great support in London over the years and it was amazing today. His training was going well and he was confident of doing between 2.05 and 2.07 but you never know, he gave it his all, and his body didn’t respond when he asked it to. He knows it’s time to call it a day and as he was going along the course, part of him wanted to cry and even though it was pouring with rain, people were coming out of their houses, and it’s “quite emotional”. I’ll bet.

We cut to see young Mo running the mini-marathon and had someone told him at that age he’d be Olympic champ, he’d never have believed them. As he got older, his mindset changed, but he wants kids to know that if you graft anything is possible and he’d like to be able to give back to the younger generation. He never thought he could challenge the Kenyans and Ethiopians, but living and training with them showed him he could, and he’ll finish competing with the Great North Run in September. He’s looking forward to spending time with his family, and showing younger athletes what can be achieved with hard work. Effort, Mo.

Also going on:

BBC are playing Opus’ Live is Life, so of course it’s incumbent on me to stick this up.

Yesss, here’s Sifan! “It was really amazing,” she says. She never thought she could win, so can’t believe that she did. The crowd are amazing, she says, and every single kilometre she was grateful to be there. She’s so happy and it’s beautiful to see; she explains she has a pre-existing hip problem, hence the stretching, and because she was fasting she didn’t practise so didn’t know where to stop for drinks. At 20km she felt she wasn’t tired and was thinking about getting experience for her next marathon and at every moment she was grateful. She didn’t have confidence because she didn’t practise drinking and she found it really tough; she realised she didn’t have to have as much as she should. Living in the States, she used to set her alarm to watch this race, and now she’s won it she’ll never forget it. She’d been told she’d hurt, but felt much better after 35km than she thought, and when she saw the line she thought it that really it?! She needs to decide what race she’ll run at the Paris Olympics next summer but she’s so grateful. What an incredible racer and lovely person.

Kiptum’s time was 2:01.25. Kipchoge’s course record was 2:02:37, which he obliterated, but the world record, which could be his one day, remains Kipchoge’s 2:01:09.

I’d love to hear from Sifan Hassan – hopefully we get an interview soon.

“Guy Hornsby is right,” emails Krishnamoorthy V, “the right word to use is ‘insane’. I once ran a 10km run in a small town called Dolni Lohta in Czech Republic where the track was 5km up and 5 km back on the same way back. I was on the 2.5 km level when the leading pack of Kenyans passed me (in the opposite direction). By the time I finished they had collected their prize and were back at their hotel.”

Now here comes Farah, coming around the final corner, with someone on his shoulder – it’s Phil Sesserman, of GB, who blazes past, and now Farah finishes his final marathon. What a career!

Paula Radcliffe was saying earlier that London is thought to be a slow course but isn’t, and we’ve seen that today. Cairess finishes, bending over to expectorate, and he’ll be delighted with his sixth place, with beating Mo Farah too.

Kelvin Kiptum, though; Sifan Hassan, though. Our races have delivered and then some.

Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya comes through in a distant second; he and Kiptum embrace. Tamirat Tola of Ethiopia, the world champ, takes third, while Emile Cairess of GB, also making his marathon debut, is now sixth. What a run that is from him!

We’re still waiting for confirmation as to the time…

That is incredible! It’s only his second-ever race at the distance, only Eliud Kipchoge has run quicker than him, and we are witnessing the birth of a new star!

Is Kiptum slowing? I can only imagine the pain he’s in, but I don’t think he’s going to break the world mark; he veers to the wrong side of the road, following the bike, which costs him a couple of seconds, and yup, the world mark has gone. The course record, though, is annihilated. Go on Kelvin!

Kiptum ran 60.15 for the second half of the race in Valencia, the fastest such time ever; he looks set to break that here, dipping under an hour, which is just disgraceful behaviour. I can barely believe what I’m seeing!

Kiptum is really punishing the course now, sprinting to victory. The course record looks his, and even if he misses the world record, he’s going to bestow upon us one of the greatest times we’ve ever seen. Come on Kelvin!

He’s got the course record well within his sights too, and how quickly he destroyed the field was very impressive. At 40km, he’s 1.55:13 and the target is 2.02.37. He’s not actually that far off the world record, we learn; if he can find a serious finish, the time we’re talking is Eliud Kipchoge’s 2:01:09.

Kiptum is primarily self-coached, we learn, as he closes in on the tape. At just 23, he’s got plenty of time to improve himself too.

Sam Harrison of GB has smashed her PB by six minutes and is also tearful after crossing the line.

Kelvin Kiptum us still gobbling up the ems and he speeds towards the end. He’s not going as quickly as before, but he looks relaxed and is going to win by a long way in a decent time.

Andrew Cotter thinks that was the greatest marathon race he’s ever seen, and he should know. Early doors, Hassan was stopping to stretch, and it looked like all she’d achieve by continuing was unnecessary pain and potential damage. Er, perhaps not!

Megertu is in tears and understandably so – whatever the reason. The emotional dump of finishing a marathon, of finishing a race, of not winning, must be immense.

That is absolutely incredible! She trained through Ramadan, looked like she was going to drop out with injury, was way behind, worked her way back, and has now out-kicked the field! Megertu of Ethiopia is second, Jepchirchir of Kenya third. Wow wow wow!

Hassan goes! No one responds, and in her but marathon she is going to win! WOW!

But now Megertu leads, Jepchirchir on her shoulder, and does Hassan, 5000 and 10000 gold medalist in Tokyo, have it left?