Ethiopia’s Gebreslase wins women’s world marathon in record time

AgenciesEugene, Oregon Ethiopia’s Gotytom Gebreslase won the women’s marathon gold on Monday with a new world championship record time of 2 hours 18.11 minutes.The 27-year-old was nine seconds faster than Judith Jeptum Korir of Kenya, who had led for much of the race but was unable to follow Gebreslase’s attack less than two kilometres from the end.Lonah Chemtai Salpeter took bronze and with 2:20.18 hours in Eugene also remained under the old world championship record of 2:20.57 hours set by Paula Radcliffe of Britain in Helsinki in 2005.The women only world record is 2:17:01 hours set by Mary Jepkosgei Keitany in 2017.Defending champion and favourite Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya dropped out about halfway through.Gebreslase also won the Berlin marathon last year.It’s now back-to-back wins for Ethiopia in the world marathon on the streets of Eugene and Springfield. Tamirat Tola, also of Ethiopia, had won men’s marathon the day before in a championship-record time as well.Korir and Gebreslase pulled away from the field around the 17-mile mark (27 kilometers) and soon after stretched the gap to nearly a minute. Korir appeared to grow more and more agitated as she did most of the work with Gebreslase content to tuck in behind her. Korir kept motioning for Gebreslase to help set the blistering pace.The Ethiopian runner stayed put until a downhill section with about six minutes remaining in the race. She quickly surged ahead and sped away.The lead pack took off quickly and left many in the 40-runner field behind early on. The race changed complexion around the 121-mile mark (19 kilometers) when defending champion Chepngetich dropped back and soon after dropped out.The racers cruised through a scenic route that crossed over the Willamette River and by Pre’s Trail, a bark running trail that honours University of Oregon track and field icon Steve Prefontaine.