Ethiopian Gelana upsets Kenyans to win women’s marathon

Ethiopian Tiki Gelana upstaged fancied Kenyans contingent while blazzing the streets of London to win the women’s marathon at the Olympics. She won the gold medal, setting a new Olympics record time of 2 hours 23 minutes and 7 seconds. Priscah Jeptoo won Kenya’s third consecutive silver in the event, five seconds behind Gelana. Russia’s Tatyana Petrova Arkhipova collected the bronze in 2:23:29. Kenya’s pre-event medal prospect Mary Keitany, who led the pack but faded on the last home stretch, finished fourth with a time of 2:23.56. Gelana, who ran the second fastest time of 2012 in this year’s Rotterdam marathon, took charge of the race in the closing stages and 2011 world silver medallist Jeptoo did not have the strength to match her. The fancied Mary Keitany, who has won the past two London marathons, was long part of the leading pack but slipped off the pace shortly before the 41-kilometre mark as the rain returned to drench the flag-waving crowds lining the course. Italy’s Valeria Straneo and China’s Zhu Xiaolin led a large group of runners at the halfway point, timing 1hr 13min 13sec and soon afterwards pre-event favourite Russia’s Liliya Shobukhova, a three-time Chicago marathon winner, dropped out. By the 25km mark, a group of six runners had edged ahead with the three Kenyans and three Ethiopians Mare Dibaba, Gelana and Aselefech Mergia four seconds clear of the field. Mergia soon dropped out of the reckoning and as the sun appeared, the race looked set up for a straight shoot-out between the Kenyans and Ethiopians. Arkhipova put in an extra effort to narrow the distance on the leading pack and was in the lead at the 35km mark in front of Keitany, Jeptoo and Gelana, with reigning world champion Kiplagat dropping off the pace.