Former World marathon champion Luke Kibet braved a nagging injury to set a new course record in the successful defence of his Standard Chartered Singapore Marathon title on Sunday.

Kibet hobbled away from the finish of the race but he staved off a troublesome achilles’ tendon long enough to shatter his own course record, and win in 2:11:25, an achievement made even more extraordinary by the 31 degrees celcius heat and 77 per cent humidity.

When he won last year, in 2:13:01, he beat young Kenyan colleague Johnstone Chepkwony by over two minutes. This morning, Kibet needed a sprint finish to keep Chepkwony at bay.