SIMBU Clocked 2:09:41 in IAAF World Championships London 2017
L-R, Coach Francis John, Secretary General Athletics Tanzania, and Alphonce Simbu . Geoffrey Kirui won the 2017 world men’s marathon title – becoming Kenya’s fifth champion in the event - after winning a testing duel in the sun with Ethiopia’s Tamirat Tola over the four-loop course that began and ended on Tower Bridge, where he finished in 2:08:27. In so doing, the 2017 Boston Marathon winner extended his country’s record as the most successful nation in the history of this event at the IAAF World Championships. Tola, the Olympic 10,000m bronze medallist and fastest in the field thanks to the 2:04:11 he recorded in winning this year’s Dubai Marathon, required medical treatment after struggling home in 2:09:49, just two seconds ahead of Tanzania’s Alphonce Simbu, who clocked 2:09:41. Home runner Callum Hawkins, who had featured intermittently in the lead through the first half of the race, finished strongly for fourth place in a personal best of 2:10:17. Kenya’s Gideon Kipketer, who s