by Justin LagatBRIGID KOSGEI WINS THE 2020 VIRGIN MONEY LONDON MARATHON! ðŸ‘
WHAT A PERFORMANCE!🔥🔥#LondonMarathon #The40thRace pic.twitter.com/dCbGGoV6Wj
— Virgin Money London Marathon (@LondonMarathon) October 4, 2020
This piece is by Justin Lagat. Justin did two pieces on the excitng events that let us enjoy both exciting elite marathons in London!
The missed duel between Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele was almost compensated for by Brigid Kosgei and Ruth Chepngetich in the women’s race. But that was until Kosgei pulled away after the 30km mark.
The rainy conditions at the start of the race proved quite tough for some of the elite field and it didn’t take long before a pack had separated itself.
Brigid Kosgei , photo by London Marathon Media
One of the pace setters even dropped out before reaching the 10K point and the remaining two took Brigid Kosgei, Valary Aiyabei and Ruth Chepngetich through at 32:25. They were in course for the women’s only world record of 2:17.01, held by Mary Keitany. Vivan Cheruiyot seemed uninterested in closing the gap as she kept running her own race ten seconds behind them.
Ruth Chepngetich, photo by London Marathon Media
The other pace setter soon dropped out as well leaving Vivian Kiplagat to run the show. She demonstrated great form, even talking and urging the runners behind her to keep up. Valary Aiyabei could not hold on to the pace at around 15km and began to lose some ground on the three runners ahead of her.
The lead pack, 2020 London Marathon, photo by London Marathon Media
At around 25km, it became a race between Kosgei and Chepngetich. Although, the pace began to slow down a bit as the two runners seemed to be weighing on each other and waiting for the first move to come from the other.
The lead pack, 2020 London Marathon, photo by London Marathon Media
Brigid Kosgei began to move away after the 30km point and by 35km she was already 46 seconds ahead. By 40km point, she was two minutes and seventeen seconds ahead and even appeared to be occasionally smiling to herself as victory was as good as sealed for her. Behind her, Chepngetich appeared to be very exhausted and trying to hold on to the second place.
Brigid Kosgei takes the 2020 VM London Marathon, photo by London Marathon media
With no one behind her to threaten her win and no time to push for, the world record holder comfortably crossed the finish line at 2:18:58. Behind her, the second place was open for grabs between Sara Hall and Ruth Chepngetich.
🗣︔My husband was going nuts!”@SaraHall3 on her amazing sprint finish to finish second at the Virgin Money London Marathon!#LondonMarathon #The40thRace pic.twitter.com/P8VwGSck2f
— Virgin Money London Marathon (@LondonMarathon) October 4, 2020
The gap between them at first looked quite huge, but then Hall was closing it quickly. And just at the last stretch to the tape, Hall overtook Chepngetich and sealed the second place. The two crossed the finish line in 2:22:01 against 2:22:05.
Sarah Hall takes second at the 2020 VM London Marathon, photo by London Marathon media
