Kenyan Dennis Kimetto smashed the marathon world record by 26 seconds in Berlin on Sunday, winning the race in a time of two hours, two minutes and 57 seconds.

The 30-year-old pre-race favorite broke away in a seven-man group, including fellow Kenyans Emmanuel Mutai and Geoffrey Kamworor, after 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) on a sunny, cool morning in Berlin.

He then shook off Mutai with four kilometers (2.5 miles) remaining to become the first man to complete the race in less than two hours and three minutes. This is the second consecutive world record in Berlin, considered the world's fastest marathon course. Since 2007, the world record has been broken five times in the German capital.

Mutai also bettered the previous world record of two hours, three minutes and 23 seconds.

Tirfi Tsegaye won the women's race in two hours, 20 minutes and 18 seconds, seven seconds ahead of fellow Ethiopian Feyse Tadese, but slower than the world record.

Some 40,000 runners from 130 nations were accepted for this year's race. Hundreds of thousands of spectators were also in attendance.

glb/tj (AP, Reuters)