Kiplagat wins marathon gold in historic Kenyan sweep

By John Bagratuni Aug 27, 2011, 7:53 GMT

Daegu, South Korea - Edna Kiplagat lived up to her top billing despite a fall when she led a historic Kenyan medal sweep in the women's marathon at the world championships which were opened on Saturday.

Kiplagat, 31, broke a four-strong leader group shortly after the 35-kilometres mark, fell at the last drinks station but regrouped quickly for victory in 2 hours 28 minutes 43 seconds.

Priscah Jeptoh won silver in 2:29:00 and Sharon Cherop took bronze in 2:29:14 ahead of Ethiopian Bezunesh Bekele as Kenya became the first nation to sweep a marathon podium (men or women) at the worlds or Olympics.

'This my first championship I have run and I am happy to have won it. I will celebrate this title by going shopping,' said Kiplagat, the 2010 New York marathon winner and fastest runner this year in Saturday's 55-strong field.

The three Kenyans and Bekele moved ahead from a larger group at 32km on a humid but overcast morning in downtown Daegu before Kiplagat attacked again just after 35km. The fall incident came shortly afterwards but didn't stop her from winning.

'Cherop hit my leg by accident. I was afraid that I hurt myself but I was OK,' said Kiplagat.

The marathon was the first of 47 medal events at the Daegu championships which bring together 1,945 athletes from 202 countries.

The nine-day event was later formally opened by Lamine Diack, head of the ruling body IAAF, in the presence of South Korean President Lee Myung Bak during a glittering 50-minute ceremony featuring local tradition and fireworks.

Jamaican superstar Usain Bolt was to light up the track a first time in the 100m heats and the day's other final was to be the women's 10,000m.

Preliminary action at Daegu stadium saw world and Olympic pole vault champion Steve Hooker crash out by no-heighting. The Australian missed all three attempts at 5.50m in an injury-plagued season.

'I felt fine physically, but wasn't there mentally. I felt kind of lost on the runway,' Hooker said.

The other two medallists from the 2008 Olympics, Evgeniy Lukyanenko of Ukraine and Denys Yurchenko, also failed to make Monday's final.

World record holder David Rudisha of Kenya qualified from the 800m heats along with Sudan rival Abubaker Kaki, and Allyson Felix of the US handily advanced from her 400m heat in the bid for an unprecedented women's 200m/400m double at the worlds.

'I felt controlled. I was trying to make it through as easy as possible. I feel good, excited, finally to get started,' said Felix, who is making her 400m debut on the big stage but has three straight 200m world titles.

The decathlon turned into the expected American battle for supremacy from the outset, with Ashton Eaton on top with 1,910 points just ahead of title holder Trey Hardee, who has 1,885 points.