Visiline Jepkesho was in a class of her own as she left the field trailing by over 20 seconds to win the Paris Marathon with an impressive time of 2:25:52.  Jepkesho who has also won the Lisbon and Milan marathons, was running with the leading pack until the 30km mark. Thats when she made her move, shifting to a higher gear. Ethiopians Gulume Tollesa and Dinknesh Mekasha tried to keep up but could not handle the pace. They finished second third respectively in 2:26:14  and 2:28:12.

Jepkesho, 28 was happy despite not reaching her goal.

“My goal was to improve my PB (2:24:44),” said Jepkesho. “Unfortunately I didn’t succeed but I’m very happy to win. During the race, I was expecting someone to move. But when I saw no one did, I decided to move”  she said.

In the men’s race, Kenyans occupied the top three positions. Cyprian Kotut was first in 2:07:11 ahead of Kenyan compatriots Laban Korir (2:07:29) and Stephen Chemlany (2:07:37).

Kotut is a younger brother of Martin Lel who won the London marathon three times.

“It’s a bit surprising,” said Kotut, “but not so much as some of my training teammates ran well like Mike Kigen, who was second in Seoul in 2:05. But it’s my second experience at the marathon and I had that fear that I wouldn’t have so much experience. My objective was to run my personal best (2:08:55), so it’s perfect.” said Kotut

Leading results

Men
1 Cyprian Kotut (KEN) 2:07:11
2 Laban Korir (KEN) 2:07:29
3 Stephen Chemlany (KEN) 2:07:37
4 Micah Kogo (KEN) 2:08:03
5 Gebretsadik Abraha (ETH) 2:08:18

Women
1 Visiline Jepkesho (KEN) 2:25:53
2 Gulume Tollesa (ETH) 2:26:14
3 Dinknesh Mekasha (ETH) 2:28:12
4 Rebecca Chesire (KEN) 2:31:29
5 Yebrgual Melese (ETH) 2:32:05