Ndereba gets a second gold as Kenya dominates marathons

Sep 2, 2007, 8:23 GMT

Osaka, Japan - Catherine Ndereba of Kenya had the strongest finish to claim a second career marathon world title on Sunday which also saw hosts Japan medal at last from Raiko Tosa.

Ndereba ran away from Zhou Chinxiu on the final kilometres to win the classic 42.195km race in 2 hours 30 minutes 37 seconds.

Zhou took silver in 2:30:45, and Tosa gave hosts Japan their first medal at the championships on the final day, a bronze to go with 2001 silver in 2:30:55 in front of large crowds in the streets of Osaka.

Ndereba, whose first world title came in 2003, is the first woman to get a second gold in the race. She also has a silver from the 2005 worlds, four wins in Boston and a 2006 triumph in Osaka.

Her win made Kenya the first nation to win the men's and women's race at one worlds or Olympics, as Luke Kibet won the men's edition August 25.

Briton Mara Yamauchi split a large leader group at the 30km mark when she raised the pace, which led to an eight-strong group. The group was then down to five at 39km before Ndereba made her final surge.

The conditions were not quite as intense as in the men's race last weekend, but the temperature was up to 30 degrees. One victim was Russian co-favourite Galina Bogomolova who seemingly collapsed on the track and required immediate medical help.