Ethiopia sweeps Paris marathon


Ethiopian Abrha Milaw upstaged two-time defending champion Paul Lonyangata to win the Paris Marathon yesterday. Milaw clocked 2 hrs, 07 min and 05 sec, with Kenyan rival Lonyangata coming in third as 60,000 runners took to the streets of the French capital in cold, clear conditions.

Gelete Burka produced a spurt of extra gas in the final kilometer to ensure an Ethiopian winner in the women's race with a time of 2:22:48. France's Clemence Calvin, who was only cleared to race on Friday after the last-minute lifting of a temporary ban for evading a doping test last month in Morocco, smashed the French women's record.

Calvin finished fourth in 2:23:41, bettering by 41 seconds the previous national record set by Christelle Daunay in 2010. It also bettered by almost three minutes her own previous best of 2:26:28 which she set when finishing second in the European championships in Berlin last year.