Another marathon gold for Ethiopia in Eugene as Jess Piasecki finishes leading Brit at the World Champs on Monday

Inspired by the exploits of her team-mate Tamirat Tola in the previous day’s men’s marathon, Gotytom Gebreslase brought further glory to Ethiopia when she won the women’s race in a championships record of 2:18:11.

Breaking away decisively from long-time leader Judith Korir of Kenya in the final 2km, the 27-year-old took almost three minutes off Paula Radcliffe’s mark of 2:20:57.

The British runner set that time in Helsinki in 2005. Years earlier, Grete Waitz won the inaugural world title in the same Finnish city in 2:28:08. As time moves on, performances improve and on Monday morning in Eugene the top nine runners broke 2:24:00.

“I am very happy and I want to give all the glory to God,” said Gebreslase, who became the first Ethiopian to win the women’s marathon since Mare Dibaba in 2015. “The Kenyan runner asked me to pass her, but I stayed patient. Towards 40km, I felt strong and decided to leave.

“Tola’s win yesterday motivated me a lot. I plan to prepare well and defend my title in Budapest.”

In third, Lonah Salpeter of Israel clocked 2:20:18 as fourth-placed Nazret Weldu set an Eritrean record of 2:20:29.

Then came Sara Hall, the American running 2:22:10 to finish fifth, with her team-mates Emma Bates and Keira D’Amato clocking 2:23:18 and 2:23:34 in seventh and eighth respectively.

Ruth Chepngetich, the defending champion from Kenya, was prominent up to around 18km but pulled out with stomach problems.

First Brit home was Jess Piasecki, who battled home in 12^th place in 2:28:41 despite fading a little in the latter stages. “I am happy initially to finish 12^th in the world,” she said. “Obviously I was higher up but in the last 7km the wheels probably came off a little bit. But I gave it a real good go and I quite enjoyed it.”

The 32-year-old added: “It’s my second championship marathon. I’ve only ever done five marathons, four that I’ve finished, so I’m still learning. It’s still such a new event for me.

“My fuelling was a lot better today, but it probably still needs some work because I was seeing spots in the last 5km. I could not have given any more so what else can I ask for?”

READ MORE: Tola wins men’s marathon

Charlotte Purdue and Rose Harvey did not finish and the former, who pulled out at 19km, said: “I’m gutted – I just didn’t feel good today. From the start my breathing felt heavy. Everyone has off days and it’s just annoying that I had an off day on the day of the World Champs.”

Purdue will now take stock ahead of racing in the London Marathon on October 2 and she added: “I woke up and felt fine, felt good all week, training has been going well, so I don’t have any answers at the moment. It’s never ideal to run for Great Britain and drop out but you can’t pick and choose when you have a good day.”

Harvey, meanwhile, withdrew at 26km with cramp.