Eliud Kipchoge improved his own world record by half a minute as he raced to victory in the Berlin Marathon on Sunday.

Kipchoge’s winning time of two hours, one minute and nine seconds took 30 seconds of his previous best set in the same race four years ago.

The double Olympic champion set a stunning early pace that put him on track for a sub two-hour finish, and reached the half-way point in 59 minutes and 50 seconds.

Despite slightly slowing, Kipchoge pulled clear of Ethiopia’s Andamlak Belihu in the second half of the race, eventually crossing the line more than four minutes in front of second-placed Mark Korir.

Korir finished in 2:05:58 with Ethiopia’s Tadu Abate coming through to take third in 2:06.28.

In the women’s race, Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa smashed the course record by two minutes and became the third fastest women in history as she won in a time of 2:15.37.