Close Finishes Rule In Both Main Events Of London Marathon

Antonio Pinto outsprinted Stefano Baldini to win by 2 seconds and Joyce Chepchumba caught defending champion Liz McColgan at the line to triumph by 1 second as the London Marathon produced two thrilling finishes Sunday.

Although the men didn’t beat Belayneh Dinsamo’s world record of 2 hours, 6 minutes, 50 seconds, set at Rotterdam in 1988, the first four finishers bettered the 12-year-old race record and the first five ran their fastest ever marathons.

Pinto, the 1992 London Marathon champion, was timed in 2:07:55, with Baldini at 2:07:57.

Josiah Thugwane, the first black South African to win an Olympic gold medal when he triumphed at Atlanta last summer, placed third in his fastest ever time, 2:08:06, and fourth-place finisher Eric Kimaiyo of Kenya clocked 2:08:08. All four were under Steve Jones’ previous London Marathon record of 2:08:16 set in 1985.

“This was the most extraordinary marathon race ever,” Pinto said. “The race had a great group of runners and the warm weather helped to make it so good.”

Thugwane, called a one-race wonder after his surprise win at Atlanta, was satisfied with his third-place finish.

In the closest finish ever to the women’s race, Chepchumba caught defending champion McColgan in the final 20 yards to reverse the positions of last year. Chepchumba clocked 2:26:51, with McColgan only a second behind.

Shuhei Nishida, Japan’s two-time Olympic pole vault silver medalist, died at age 87.

Nishida won his first silver medal at the 1932 Los Angeles Games and his second in 1936 at Berlin.