Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir set a new world record for a women's-only race with her win at the London Marathon on Sunday while British star Emile Cairess finished third in the men's race.

The Kenyan distance runner came home ahead of world record holder Tigst Assefa and compatriot Joyciline Jepkosgei.

Jepchirchir dropped to the floor after crossing the finish line as she burst into tears.

Former 1500m world champion Steve Cram delighted in the 30-year-old's win.

He said on BBC: "Peres Jepchirchir is one of the greatest marathon runners we have ever seen.

"She has never finished outside the top three and it's a new women's-only world record."

The top three - as well as Megertu Alemu - all smashed the previous women's-only world record time from 2017.

Mary Jepkosgei Keitany set the previous leading mark at 2:17:01 in London seven years ago.

The men's race finished shortly afterward with Alexander Mutiso Munyao winning in a time of 2:04:01.

Kenenisa Bekele came home in second just 14 seconds behind but Cairess got himself on the podium with a time of 2:06:46.

Fellow British runner Mahamed Mahamed crossed the line next with both athletes booking their spot at the Paris Olympics this summer.

Neither were able to break Mo Farah's British record of 2:05:11, something Cairess admitted he was aiming to do before the race.

He said: "I definitely want to break Mo’s British record. I want to run as fast as possible and I feel like I can run a lot quicker than that in the future.

"An Olympic medal is also my goal – definitely for Los Angeles.

"Although for this Olympics, if I can qualify, then I would like to be competitive. I wouldn’t be going there just to make up the numbers.

LATEST SPORT NEWS:

Former Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza announces retirement from tennis at age 30Zinedine Zidane 'one step away' from agreeing next job with Man Utd decision madeJimmy White names World Snooker Championship star he 'wants to shake' with direct message

"I’ve definitely progressed a lot. My workouts, mileage, anything you can quantify, is better than before."

Mhairi Maclennan was the first British woman to finish the race as she crossed the line in a time of 2:29:13.

Romesh Ranganathan and Ted Lasso star Phil Dunster are among the number of celebrities running the 44th edition of the London Marathon.