Marathon: Portuguese scorches field to win London marathon

LONDON - Antonio Pinto surged to his third London marathon title yesterday in the fifth-fastest time ever after destroying the finest men's field assembled outside an Olympic Games.

Pinto, a 34-year-old Portuguese who has yet to finish outside the top three in six London marathon appearances, strode to the front after the pacemakers had taken the field through the halfway stage and raced away to win in a European best time of 2h 6m 36s.

His time easily bettered the previous European mark of 2h 07m12s clocked by compatriot Carlos Lopes 15 years ago and was well inside his London best.

Last year's champion, Abdel-kader El Mouaziz, of Morocco, who chastised the pacemakers for not forcing the pace, chased after Pinto but eventually finished nearly a minute behind him in 2h 07m 33s.

El Mouaziz's compatriot Khalid Khannouchi, who shattered the world's best time in Chicago last year, finished third exactly two minutes behind Pinto. Khannouchi had set the world best of 2h 5m 42s and had been looking for a time of about 2h 6m in London.

Khannouchi is effectively stateless, with his application for United States citizenship entangled in bureaucratic red tape and he is unlikely to represent either his native Morocco or his adopted country at the Sydney Olympics.

"I don't know what's going to happen," he said of the Olympics.

"Now the plan is to go on vacation and then back to work."

Both the men's and women's races followed a similar pattern, with the fields tightly bunched at the halfway stage before ultimately successful breaks from Pinto and Tegla Loroupe.

On a clear, still day, ideal for distance running after a week of steady rain, Kenyan Loroupe won the women's race in 2h 24m 33s.

Loroupe later revealed that she had been suffering from a long-standing injury to her left hip and was highly relieved none of her rivals had attempted to force the pace.

Romanian Lidia Simon, second in 2h 24m 46s, looked full of running but could not stay with Loroupe when the Kenyan decided to strike out on her own in the latter stages of the race.

- NZPA