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NEW YORK Meb Keflezighi became the first U.S. man to win the New York City Marathon since 1982 on Sunday, a victory that capped an outstanding day for American distance running.
Derartu Tulu of Ethiopia won the women's race, with two-time defending champ Paula Radcliffe falling back to fourth, then grabbing her left leg in pain after finishing.
Keflezighi, 34, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist, learned after a disappointing performance in the U.S. Olympic trials in New York two years ago he had a stress fracture in his hip. He capped the long and painful comeback with a landmark victory against a deep field for his first major marathon title.
Born in Eritrea, he became a U.S. citizen in 1998. He was second in New York in 2004 and third in 2005. Wearing "USA" on his jersey, Keflezighi won in 2 hours, 9 minutes, 15 seconds.
A field of nearly 44,000 started the race. The 53-degree weather was about perfect for the runners, although they were slowed by 14-mph winds.
Keflezighi pulled away from Robert Cheruiyot of Kenya in the 23rd mile and beat him by 41 seconds.
Morocco's Jaouad Gharib finished third and Ryan Hall of the U.S. was fourth on a day when six Americans were in the top 10 for the first time since 1979.
Ludmila Petrova, 41, of Russia, was the runner-up in the women's race, and Christelle Daunay of France was third.
TENNIS
Serena Williams beat big sister Venus again, winning 6-2, 7-6 (4) in the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships final at Doha, Qatar.
It was Serena's fourth straight win against her sister.
COLLEGES
No. 16 Charlotte (10-2-4, 4-1-2) rallied with three unanswered goals to win 3-2 at Xavier (2-12-1, 1-7) in Atlantic 10 men's soccer. Donnie Smith, a freshman out of Charlotte Catholic, had the 49ers' first two goals. Adam Gross then scored his team-leading eighth goal of the season.
SOCCER
Shalrie Joseph scored in the 75th minute to lift the New England Revolution to a 2-1 home victory against the Chicago Fire in the opening game of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Maykel Galindo scored in the 50th minute and Chivas USA rallied to tie the host Los Angeles Galaxy 2-2 in the first game of their Western Conference semifinal series. Observer news services
