London, Apr 23 (IANS): Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya finished first in the London Marathon men's race here on Sunday with a winning time of 2:01:25, the second quickest in history.

In the women's elite race, the 5,000m and 10,000 Olympic champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands won her marathon debut in style by clocking in 2:18:33, reports Xinhua.

Kiptum, 23, burst onto the stage at the end of last year as he set the fourth-fastest time on the world all-time list of 2:01:53 in his marathon debut in Valencia, Spain.

Four months later, Kiptum showed his huge potential again in London as he pushed himself forward and dominated the race after 30km, improving his personal best to only 16 seconds behind his compatriot Eliud Kipchoge's world record of 2:01:09.

Hassan's victory surprised many as she seemed bothered by some pain in the early stages, but held her nerve to follow the leading group tightly before joining the top four runners in the last minutes and breaking out to beat Ethiopian ace Alemu Megertu and Kenya's reigning Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir with a phenomenal dash with 500m to go.