Kelowna's Malindi Elmore 35th in Olympic marathon

Kelowna marathon runner Malindi Elmore finished 35th in what turned out to be the fastest women's marathon in Olympic history.

Despite being described as the toughest marathon ever for an Olympic games with several steep hills across the 42 kilometre course, both the men and women set Olympic records.

Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands broke free from a four woman pack over the final kilometre to win in two hours, 22 minutes and 55 seconds, beating the previous record by 12 seconds.

Silver medalist Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia also ran faster than the previous record, finishing just three seconds behind Hassan.

Hellen Obiri of Kenya took the bronze in two hours, 23 minutes and 10 seconds.

Elmore crossed the line in two hours, 31 minutes and 8 seconds, eight minutes and 13 seconds back.

The 44-year-old Elmore was in the lead pack through the first 10 kilometres but began falling back when a dozen runners broke free and pushed the pace before the 15 kilometre mark.

She was 46th at the halfway mark of the race before moving up over the last half of the race.

This was Elmore's third Olympics. She finished ninth in the marathon in Tokyo three years ago and also competed in the 1500 metres in Athens in 2004.

The women's marathon was the final athletics event of the Paris Olympics, a position traditionally held by the men, who ran their race Friday.