Four months after capturing the Boston Marathon title, Geoffrey Kirui battled to win his first ever world championship crown in the marathon on Sunday at the IAAF World Championships in London. 

With a deadly surge between miles 20 and 21, the Kenyan runner executed a dominating victory on the streets of London where he crossed the finish line in 2:08:27 -- over a minute ahead of silver medalist Tamirat Tola (2:09.49) and bronze medalist Alphonce Felix Simbu (2:09:51). Kirui is the first man to win the Boston Marathon and the world title in the same year.

Geoffrey Kirui becomes the first man ever to win World Champs & Boston Marathons in the same year (DeCastella did it 1983/1986) #London2017 pic.twitter.com/OW00gaoGkt

— David Monti (@d9monti) August 6, 2017

To the delight of the home crowd, British marathoner Callum Hawkins claimed fourth place with an overall time of 2:10:17. 

After a slow early pace set by a tightly bunched pack, the Ethiopian and Kenyan teammates began to emerge around miles 9 through 10 when Kirui and his teammate Gideon Kipketer assumed the lead. The Kenyan duo worked together to inject a faster pace and separate the field heading into the halfway point. 

With Kirui and Kipketer at the helm, the field cruised through the 20K mark in 1:02:15, which reflected a sizable increase from the initial 15:57 5K split at the start of the race. 

The Kenyan teammates were joined at the front by Tola just after 20K mark. The Ethiopian assumed the lead through the half marathon split, which he crossed in 1:05:28. At that moment, the pack broke apart dramatically and within seconds the race was narrowed down to three men of rival countries --Tola, Kipketer, and Kirui. 

Just after the halfway point, Kipketer was thrown off the lead pace and dropped behind significantly. In a moment, the race came down to a dual between the Dubai Marathon champion and the Boston Marathon champion. 

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The 25K time between the top two runners was very telling as they blazed through in 1:16, which indicated a previous 5K split of 14:29, the fastest 5K mark of the entire race. 

At mile 19, Tola attempted to break away from Kirui with a surprising surge which Kirui didn't initially respond to. Tola looked comfortable with the sudden lead, but continued to look over his shoulder, anticipating that Kirui wouldn't linger much longer. 

Around mile 21, Kirui fought back and took the lead from Tola. But he didn't just take the lead. He surged ahead and put considerable distance on his rival. Within seconds, Kirui went from being a fallen competitor to a dominating leader. 

Kirui has dropped Tola with 6k to go! pic.twitter.com/u8bXWCg2pL

— Steve Magness (@stevemagness) August 6, 2017

Kirui's move was reminiscent of the race tactics that earned him a Boston Marathon title over Galen Rupp in April. He continued to hold the lead over Tola between mile 22 and the finish line, and even extended his lead throughout the critical final moments. By the finish line, Kirui was over a minute ahead of Tola who had to hold his ground to earn silver over a hard-charging Simbu.

Kirui's victory marked the first senior world championship title of his career. He earned a bronze medal in the 10K at the World Junior Championships in 2012.

For Tola, the performance marked his second global championship medal in the span of one year. He earned bronze in the 10K at the 2016 Olympic Games last summer. Tola also ran a lifetime best of 2:04:11 to win the Dubai Marathon in January. 

Simbu's bronze medal is a vast improvement on his fifth-place marathon finish at the 2016 Olympic Games.

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