Sifan Hassan took home first place in the women's London Marathon today, after pulling off one of the great comebacks in elite long distance history.
The 30-year-old Dutchwoman - who was making her debut at the distance - was forced to stop twice during the race to stretch, which put her 28 second behind the leaders after 15.5 miles.
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Her stops also lead to a near miss with a race motorbike, but she managed to power through the adversity, catch the leader, and win the race with a sprint finish in a time of two hours 18 minutes 33 seconds.
She even admitted herself that she thought she would have to pull out.
I never thought I would finish the marathon and win. I can’t believe it. I was going to stop at 25km.
Hassan's victory makes her arguably the greatest female runner of all-time, given her obscene range, with a World gold at 1500m, and Olympic golds at 5,000m 10,000m.
The men's race was won by 23-year-old Kenyan Kelvin Kiptum in a time of two hours one minute 25 seconds.
Sifan Hassan Wins The 2023 London Marathon
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"It is one of my favourite marathons in the world", added Hassan.
"The crowd was so amazing and every single kilometre I was so grateful for them. I wasn't going to stop.
"I had a problem with my hip, which made me stop. But it started to feel a little bit better.
"And then I missed one of the drinks stations! I didn't practice that part of the race because I have been fasting and so that was quite difficult. But I needed it!
"At 20km I knew that I could kick on because I didn't feel that tired and I didn't care how I finished, I just wanted to get there.
"I wasn't thinking about winning or how fast I was going to be and I think that was a good thing for me today. I felt really popular here today because the crowd were cheering me so much!"
Hassan has previously had to deny the steroid use after her former coach, the disgraced Albert Salazar, was banned for doping violations in 2019.
"I've been clean all my life. I work hard," said Hassan after winning gold in the 1500m race at the 2019 World Championships.
"I couldn't talk to anyone. I just ran all out.
"I just want to show people that hard work can be better than everything."
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