(Reuters) - Kenyan Brigid Kosgei broke Paula Radcliffe's 16-year-old women's marathon world record when she ran two hours, 14 minutes, four seconds at the Chicago Marathon on Sunday.
Kosgei set a blistering pace from the start to shatter the previous record of 2:15:25 which Briton Radcliffe set in London in April 2003.
"They (spectators) were cheering, cheering and I got more energy to keep faster," Kosgei said.
Radcliffe was on hand to witness the fall of her record.
"When I saw how fast Brigid was running in the first part of the race, if she was able to hold that together, she was always going to beat the time," Radcliffe said.
Kenyan Lawrence Cherono sprinted past Ethiopian Dejene Debela to win the men's race.
Cherono clocked an unofficial two hours, five minutes, 45 seconds to add to his Boston Marathon title.
Debela was a second back as British defending champion Mo Farah placed eighth in 2:09.58 and Galen Rupp failed to finish.
The race was the first for Farah and Rupp since their former coach Alberto Salazar was banned from the sport for four years by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) for “orchestrating and facilitating prohibited doping conduct”,
Salazar has said he plans to appeal against the ruling.
American Daniel Romanchuk overwhelmed the men's wheelchair field to defend his title in an unofficial 1:30:26.
The 21-year-old finished more than three minutes ahead of British runner-up David Weir.
Swiss Manuela Schar also retained her title, the 34-year-old winning the women's wheelchair race in an unofficial 1:41:08.
Former champion Tatyana McFadden took second in 1:45:22.
(Reporting by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina and Amy Tennery in Chicago; editing by Clare Fallon)