MONACO — Just three weeks ahead of the upcoming Paris Olympic Games, World Athletics has ratified the women's marathon world record set by Peres Jepchirchir earlier this year. Kenya’s Jepchirchir rewrote the record book as she ran 2:16:16 to improve the women-only world marathon record by 45 seconds at the TCS London Marathon.
The field for the World Athletics Platinum Label race on April 21 was widely regarded as one of the deepest and highest-quality women’s fields ever assembled and no secret had been made of the fact that breaking Mary Keitany’s women-only world record of 2:17:01 was the big target.
Ultimately, Jepchirchir was the one to achieve it. Seven women had remained in the pack as they reached the halfway point in 1:07:04 – the second-fastest half-way split ever recorded in London and a mark that put them on schedule to smash the record by almost three minutes.
Jepchirchir went on to win in 2:16:16, finishing seven seconds ahead of Tigist Assefa. Joyciline Jepkosgei was third (2:16:24) and Megertu Alemu fourth (2:16:34), making it the first marathon in which four women finished inside 2:17.
On Wednesday, the new World Record in Women’s world indoor 60m hurdles by Devynne Charlton.
In Glasgow on March 3, Bahamian hurdler Charlton lowered the 60m hurdles world record to 7.65 as she secured her first global title at the World Athletics Indoor Championships.
Charlton had previously shared the world record of 7.67 with Tia Jones of the United States. Charlton achieved that mark in New York on 11 February before Jones matched it in Albuquerque just five days later.