Kenyan Benard Biwott and Ethiopian Bedatu Hirpa won the men’s and women’s Paris Marathon on Sunday.
Biwott won the race in his debut and clocked 2:05:25, which was eight seconds faster than last year’s winner Mulugeta Uma.
The 22-year-old Biwott dropped his rivals with about 10 kilometers to go and finished 48 seconds ahead of Ibrahim Hassan of Djibouti and 56 seconds clear of countryman Sila Kiptoo.
Hirpa’s race was far closer, as she overtook countrywoman Dera Dida in the final meters on Avenue Foch and beat her by only four seconds.
Hirpa, 25, finished with a winning time of 2:20:45, while Kenyan Angela Tanui finished third in 2:21:07.
Both winners clinched their second marathon victory, with Biwott winning in Frankfurt last year and Hirpa winning in Dubai earlier this year, when she also narrowly took victory over Dida.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
