The Olympic bronze-medallist powered to the front and broke up the field after 20 miles to fulfil his pre-race promise he would halt the six-year domination of the race by Kenyan athletes.

His decisive tactics saw him finish well clear of Kenya’s world silver-medallist Emmanuel Mutai (2:06:23) with Jaouad Gharib of Morocco third in 2:06:55.

Josh Cassidy was a surprise but convincing winner of the men's wheelchair race in a time of 1:35.21.

The 25-year-old Canadian coped with the wet conditions better than his rivals and won easily ahead of Marcel Hug of Switzerland by 46 seconds with Britain’s David Weir denied a fourth success as he placed third.

Wakako Tsuchida from Japan triumphed in a thrilling women’s finish just a second ahead of Switzerland’s world record holder Sandra Graf with a time of 1:52.33.

Defending champion Amandas McGrory of the United States hot on their heels took third place in 1:52.36.