After An Epic Battle, Daniel Wanjiru Outduels Kenenisa Bekele To Win The 2017 London Marathon

by LetsRun.com
April 23, 2017

While the women’s race at the 2017 Virgin Money London Marathon saw jaw-dropping times, the men’s race offered a thrilling alternative for those who enjoy head-to-head racing as Daniel Wanjiru and Kenenisa Bekele staged a high-stakes game of cat and mouse over the final miles on Sunday morning. Ultimately, the great Bekele’s late heroics were not enough as the 24-year-old Wanjiru, who set the course record at last year’s Amsterdam Marathon, held off a strong surge from Bekele with a surge of his own the final mile to win in 2:05:48 to Bekele’s 2:05:57.

Bekele, who at 30k appeared to be well beaten as he was 17 seconds back and in just 6th place, stormed back to within 3 seconds of Wanjiru, but Wanjiru rallied deep — to hold off Bekele’s late charge. 

(LRC note: Earlier we wrote Wanjiru ran a 4:27 26th mile as that was what was reported on the race broadcast, but the split had to be incorrect. The timing website shows Wanjiru running 4:53 pace from 40km to the finish (1.35 miles), so there is no way he ran 4:27 for a mile on that stretch. Hat tip to Peter Geithner for first pointing this out to us).

The Race

As is the norm with Bekele’s marathons these days, there was plenty of world record hype in the buildup, and the men opened with a scorching 14:11 split on the downhill first 5k. They backed off from there, however, and the 13-man lead pack (nine racers, four pacers) hit halfway in 61:41 — quick for any marathon, but 12 seconds behind world record pace.

Wanjiru began to increase the tempo just after crossing Tower Bridge near the halfway mark, ripping off a four-mile stretch of 4:44-4:42-4:44-4:45 from 12 to 16 miles (14:39 from 20k to 25k), and by 30k, the lead pack had dwindled to five men: Wanjiru, debutant Bedan Karoki, world champ Ghirmay Ghebreslassie, Chicago champ Abel Kirui and Olympic silver medallist Feyisa Lilesa. Bekele, who repeatedly stretched his arm above his head, just as he did in Berlin last fall, looked to be falling out of it and was 18 seconds adrift.

Update: After the race, Bekele told Reuters he fell back as he was having a problem with his shoes that were causing him to get blisters so he altered his stride and that created a hamstring issue. 

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After breaking the race open with a 4:53 21st mile, Wanjiru held an 11-second lead over Karoki at 35k. But Bekele had begun to rally, and was now in fourth place, 15 seconds behind. He quickly passed Kirui and Karoki and set his sights on the leader. By 23 miles, he had narrowed the gap to six seconds but struggled to close it further, and though Wanjiru wasn’t running absurdly fast — 4:53 and 5:02 for the next two miles — his lead was back to almost 10 seconds by mile 25.

Bekele still wasn’t licked, however, and launched a furious attack during mile 26. Wanjiru’s lead was down to eight seconds as they passed Big Ben and with a kilometer to run, Bekele was just three seconds behind. Bekele looked set to add another epic come-from-behind victory to a collection that included the 2013 Great North Run and last year’s Berlin Marathon.

But Wanjiru had one final move up his sleeve and as they headed through Westminster, he accelerated once again. This time, Bekele had no response and Wanjiru had time to celebrate on the way in with Buckingham Palace in the background, earning a tough victory in 2:05:48. Bekele improved one spot and 39 seconds from last year, but was disappointed to take second in 2:05:57. Karoki held on well to take third in his debut in 2:07:41.

Quick take analysis and top 10 results appear below. Top 30 results are at the end of the document.

Top 10 Results
1. Daniel KINYUA KEN 2:05:48
2. Kenenisa BEKELE ETH 2:05:57
3. Bitan KAROKI KEN 2:07:41 PB
4. Abel KIRUI 2:07:45 SB
5. Alphonce Felix SIMBU TAN 2:09:10 PB
6. Ghirmay GHEBRESLASSIE ERI 2:09:57
7. Asefa MENGSTU ETH 2:10:04 PB
8. Amanuel MESEL ERI 2:10:44
9. Javier GUERRA ESP 2:10:55
10. Michael SHELLEY AUS 2:11:38

Quick Take #1: Daniel Wanjiru has arrived as a marathon stud

This take is a little tautological as anyone who wins London is by definition a stud, but what Wanjiru has done in his last two marathons (2:05:21 course record in Amsterdam, fending off Bekele to win in London) is truly impressive. Plus he’s still only 24 years old. In terms of Best Marathoner Alive, you’d have to rank Eliud Kipchoge above him right now (and probably Wilson Kipsang too) but that’s about it.

Quick Take #2: Never count out Kenenisa Bekele

Usually when someone starts to drop off of the lead pack in a road race, they don’t come back unless there’s a major blowup up front. But Kenenisa Bekele has shown an incredible ability to rally (or play dead) during his road racing career and almost claimed another come-from-behind win today.

He came up short for two reasons. 1) Wanjiru was brilliant. Not only was his race tremendous but he saved something for the final mile when Bekele closed the gap. That is rare in a marathon. 2) Bekele left it too late. Obviously it’s tough to run fast at the end of a marathon, but for miles 19 through 25, the pace never got below 4:53, with four of them being run in 5:00 or slower. Bekele really started closing the gap during mile 26. Bekele obviously didn’t know that Wanjiru was capable of matching that move, but if you’re 8-10 seconds down at mile 25, you have to hope the guy in front of you doesn’t have much in reserve — which wasn’t the case today.

Still, the fact that Bekele battled back from sixth place and 18 seconds down at 30k was very impressive. Bekele is lauded for his otherworldly combination of speed and endurance, but he should be commended for his toughness as well — both mental and physical.

 

Quick Take #3: Rough second halves for Feyisa Lilesa and Tilahun Regassa

None of the early leaders ran close to a negative split (Wanjiru won by going 1:01:43/1:04:03), but Ethiopians Lilesa and Regassa really struggled on the way home. Lilesa wound up 12th in 2:14:12 with splits of 1:04:41/1:09:31 while Regassa, who was 5th and 6th in London the last two years, finished way back in 30th (2:18:53) after going 1:01:42/1:17:11. Both Mary Keitany and Tirunesh Dibaba ran faster than Regassa today.

Quick Take #4: One Of The Two British World Championship Spots Went To A Guy Who Didn’t Even Have An Elite Bib

The top two Brits in the race earned spots in the 2017 World Championships in London. 23-year-old Josh Griffiths, who didn’t even start with the elites (he started a few meters back with the masses), and entered with PRs of 14:19/29:49/65:18, was amazingly the first Brit across the line, running 2:14:49 to finish 14th in his debut marathon. 25-year-old Robbie Simpson grabbed the second spot by finishing 16th in 2:15:04, a small improvement over the 2:15:38 he ran in London last year.

If it wasn’t for Griffiths, the underdog that everyone would be talking about would be 37-year-old Andrew Davies as he ran a big pb of 2:15:11 to finish 17th (previous pb of 2:16:55).

Talk about the race in our fan forum / messageboard:

Top 30 Results Via All-Athletics

Pl. Athlete / Team Cnt. Birth Result Score  
1. Daniel KINYUA KEN 92 2:05:48 1238 SB
2. Kenenisa BEKELE ETH 82 2:05:57 1235 SB
3. Bitan KAROKI KEN 90 2:07:41 1203 PB
4. Abel KIRUI KEN 82 2:07:45 1202 SB
5. Alphonce Felix SIMBU TAN 92 2:09:10 1176 PB
6. Ghirmay GHEBRESLASSIE ERI 95 2:09:57 1162 SB
7. Asefa MENGSTU ETH 85 2:10:04 1160 PB
8. Amanuel MESEL ERI 90 2:10:44 1148 SB
9. Javier GUERRA ESP 83 2:10:55 1145 SB
10. Michael SHELLEY AUS 83 2:11:38 1133 SB
11. Ayad LAMDASSEM ESP 81 2:12:30 1117 SB
12. Feyisa LILESA ETH 90 2:14:12 1088 SB
13. Kibrom WELDEMICAEL ERI 87 2:14:52 1076 SB
14. Joshua GRIFFITHS GBR 93 2:14:49 1077 PB
15. Abdellatif MEFTAH FRA 82 2:14:55 1075 SB
16. Robbie SIMPSON GBR 91 2:15:04 1073 PB
17. Andrew DAVIES GBR 79 2:15:11 1071 PB
18. Tesfaye ABERA ETH 92 2:16:09 1054 SB
19. Sean HEHIR IRL 85 2:16:18 1052 PB
20. Jesús Arturo ESPARZA MEX 90 2:16:38 1046 PB
21. Scott OVERALL GBR 83 2:16:54 1041 SB
22. Kevin SEAWARD IRL 85 2:17:08 1038 SB
23. Matt SHAW GBR 78 2:17:45 1027 PB
24. Aaron SCOTT GBR 87 2:17:46 1027 PB
25. Jon THEWLIS GBR 85 2:17:58 1023 PB
26. Stephen SCULLION IRL 88 2:17:59 1023 PB
27. Tasama MOOGAS ISR 88 2:18:33 1014 SB
28. Michael CLOHISEY IRL 86 2:18:34 1013 SB
29. Jonathan MELLOR GBR 86 2:18:48 1010 SB
30. Tilahun REGASSA ETH 90 2:18:53 1008 SB

 

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