Kenyan runner Abel Kirui finished Sunday's Vienna City Marathon in a new unofficial record time of 2:07:38 hours, beating the 2006 record of Morocco's Lahoucine Mrikik by 42 seconds, the dpa reported.
The 25-year-old favourite beat 8,000 other competitors in ideal running conditions for the 25th Vienna marathon. Last year Kirui finished third in Vienna, his personal best is 2:06:51 hours.
The top ten positions in the marathon belonged to African runners, with Ethiopian Lemma-Alemu Debelu in ninth place being the only non- Kenyan runner in the top ten.
Duncan Kibet finished nearly a minute behind Kirui in second place, while Paul Biwott was third.
Romania's Luminita Talpos dominated the women's field with 2:36:43 hours. The 35-year-old repeated her 2007 victory in Vienna, improving her personal best by 49 seconds and making her national limit for the Beijing Olympics.
More than 30,000 runners from 100 countries participated in this year's marathon, which included seven different competitions, making it a new record. More than 400,000 fans cheered on the runners of marathon, half-marathon, marathon relay, and kid's competitions.
As a novelty, the runners finished their race on a football lawn set up on Vienna's Heldenplatz square for a promotion event of the upcoming Euro 2008.