Yalemzerf Yehualaw face-planted after tripping over a sleeping policeman - yet still made history at the TCS London Marathon.
The 23-year-old Ethiopian became the youngest winner and set the fastest ever mile split recorded by a woman en route to a runaway victory in 2:17:26.
It maintained her unbeaten record over the 26.2-mile distance, having won her first race in Hamburg in April, and confirmed her as the sport's new star.
But that looked unlikely when she tripped over a speed bump at the 20-mile mark and crashed to the tarmac.
“I did not see the bump coming,” she admitted. “It was very painful. I have some [bad] feeling in my hip and knee. My head too. But I had confidence I could still run well.”
She proved that just four miles later by clocking a 4:43 split for the 24th mile of her race. Not bad for someone who only started running seven years ago.
Amos Kipruto lived up to his favourite billing by winning the men’s race in 2:04.39, with Weynay Ghebresilasie top Brit.
Ghebresilasie, 28, took ninth place 10 years after absconding from the Olympic village at London 2012.
He had carried the flag for Eritrea then competed in the steeplechase before stealing away and claiming asylum to avoid being conscripted into the army.
Rose Harvey’s route to finishing leading Briton in the women’s race was also unusual given she only started running seriously after being made redundant in lockdown.
The corporate finance lawyer used three months gardening leave to get into shape, reached elite level inside a year and yesterday took 10th place on the streets of the capital.
Eight-time champion David Weir finished third in his 23rd consecutive London men’s wheelchair race, admitting it had felt “different” racing on roads used for the Queen’s funeral.
“I just hope the King enjoys sport as much as the Queen did,” he said. “She always spoke to me about the London Marathon, more than the Paralympics.
“It was always ‘are you doing the marathon this year?’ I reckon she watched it, either from a window at Buckingham Palace or on TV. I think she enjoyed it, because it was right on her doorstep.”
Among the 40,000 fun runners were Anoosheh Ashoori, who was freed alongside Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe from an Iranian prison in March and ran ‘in solidarity with the people of Iran and the women’s movement”.
Kostiantyn Bidnenko and Viktoriya Kiose ran for United 24, a foundation supporting Ukraine, after fleeing to the UK from their home country after Russia's invasion in February.
Eilish McColgan, who missed London due to reactions to taking on fuel on practise runs, broke her own 10k British record (30:18) in the Great Scottish Run.
