Sir Mo Farah third in London Marathon but breaks 33-year-old British record

Sir Mo Farah set a new British record in finishing third behind Eliud Kipchoge in a stamina-sapping Virgin Money London Marathon.

Farah faded out of contention for victory in the last six miles but was able to complete the course in an official time of two hours, six minutes and 21 seconds, beating the record set back in 1985 by Steve Jones by nearly a minute.

Despite a couple of obvious issues getting his water bottles at feed stations, Farah stayed comfortably in the lead group until it thinned down to three, he and Kipchoge being joined by Ethiopia's Tola Shura Kitata.

But Farah, a winner of four Olympic gold medals and six World Championship titles at 5,000 and 10,000m, started to drop back as 2015 and 2016 champion Kipchoge sensed a hat-trick of titles and upped the pace after the 30km mark.

He would eventually cross the line just under two minutes behind course record holder Kipchoge (2:04.17), who also won marathon gold at the Rio Olympics in 2016.

Farah said: "I am knackered. The guys went for it, they were on for world record pace, so it was do or die. I went with it and hung in as much as I could.

"It's so different to the track. It's incredible. It's different pain, different training but I've really enjoyed it. I gave it all, 110 per cent as I normally do.

"I've got a long way to go in the marathon. You get heavy legs. Mentally you've just got to be strong, take your drink and just pace yourself."

Earlier, Kenya's Vivian Cheruiyot timed her effort to perfection to beat favourites Mary Keitany and Tirunesh Dibaba in the women's race.

Cheruiyot sat off the fierce fractions set by the male pacemakers, who had been brought in to aid a world record bid from either defending champion Keitany or 2017 runner-up Dibaba.

But neither could maintain their pace for the entire distance and Cheryuiot stormed past compatriot Keitany with less than five miles to run and there would be no response.

Her eventual winning time was two hours, 18 minutes, 31 seconds, three minutes slower than Paula Radcliffe's world record.

Brigid Kosgei of Kenya took second ahead of Ethiopia's Tadelech Bekele, with an exhausted Keitany almost stopping to a walk in the closing mile as she finished fifth.

Lily Partridge set a huge personal best as the first British finisher, crossing the line in eighth place in a time of 2:29.25.