Duncan Mackay on a remarkable marathon that saw a new men's world record and a stunning debut by Paula Radcliffe

In a field of running legends, Khalid Khannouchi was largely overlooked among the potential winners of the London Marathon despite being the world record holder. Even when the race came down to a dual between him, Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie and Kenya's Paul Tergat in the last five miles few were prepared to back him.

That included his wife and coach Sandra who said as she watched from the lead truck: "He's not in shape to be running this fast." But he drew inspiration from somewhere as, first he took Gebrselassie along the embankment and then out-paced Tergat in the final mile. "I did what was needed to win," said the man born in Morocco but now an US citizen.

What was needed was a new world record of two hours five minutes 38 seconds, taking four seconds off the mark he had set in Chicago in 1999. Beyond the finish line Sandra leapt into Khannouchi's arms before he broke away to kiss the ground and, as a Muslim, offer praise to Allah. "I was pretty surprised," he admitted.

Adding to Khannouchi's sense of satisfaction was that in finishing ahead of Tergat and Gebrselassie he beat his heroes. "I grew up watching these guys at the world championships and Olympics just imagining what it would be like to race against them," he said. "To beat them, well ...."

The fact it took a world record helped deflect some of the disappointment Tergat and Gebrselassie clearly felt. In finishing second for the third consecutive time in his fledging marathon career, Tergat's 2:05:48 was the third fastest ever and a Commonwealth record. Gebrselassie ran 2:06:36, an encouraging pointer for the future seeing as it was the first marathon he had run since he was 15.

"I'm very happy," said Gebrselassie, the two time Olympic 10,000 metres champion. "See how fast I ran. I did my personal best by 42 minutes! It was a wonderful race, the best in the world. Everything was perfect except the last two kilometres."

The depth of quality was awesome. Morocco's Abdelkader El Mouaziz ran 2:06:52, faster than when he won London in 1999 and 2001, but finished only fourth.

The 30-year-old Kannouchi is the perfect illustration of the American dream. As a student he left his native Morocco to pursue his ambition of becoming a top runner. In the early days he washed dishes in a Brooklyn restaurant just to survive. It was there he used to watch Tergat and Gebrselassie on the television, never daring to think he would one day beat them and collect $255,000 (£176,000) for a single day's work.

In 1996, he had married an American, Sandra Inoa, whom he met at a road race.That helped earn him US citizenship in 2000 but too late to compete in the Olympics. He made his debut for his new country at the world championships in Edmonton last year only to drop out.

"After that I wasn't motivated to do anything for a long time," Kannouchi said. "I felt like I'd let a lot of people down. I went back home and cried before Sandra and my brothers picked me up. I was motivated to come here and prove myself." He certainly did that.

The women's race nearly equalled the men's for quality in the winning performance of marathon debutant Paula Radcliffe. Her time of 2:18.56 was hailed as the greatest performance ever in marathon history as she left many of the world's finest distance runners trailing in her wake, including Ethiopia's Derartu Tulu and Kenya's Joyce Chepchumba, who between them have won this race three times.

Radcliffe so utterly destroyed the defending champion Tulu that the Ethiopian finished nearly two miles behind her in ninth. If it was payback for the way in which Tulu had beaten Radcliffe in the Sydney Olympics 10,000 metres after the Briton had led for 24 laps, it was delivered in a most devastating fashion.

"I felt great for most of the race," said Radcliffe. "The clock on the lead car wasn't working so I really didn't know how fast I was running until I saw the time with 800 metres to go. It was a wonderful day."

Only Kenya's Catherine Ndereba had ever run faster than Radcliffe when she clocked 2:18.47 in Chicago last year, but that was in a mixed race where she was paced by men and so the London organisers are recognising Radcliffe's time as a women's world record.

That took her prize money and bonuses for the day to $255,000 (£185,000), the most any woman has ever earned for a single day's athletics.

The 28-year-old earned every penny of it. Radcliffe gambled nearly a year's preparation for this race when she broke away from her more experienced competitors at only nine miles, a move almost every marathon expert condemned as madness.

She ran at a pace no woman in history has ever matched. Even Radcliffe's mother Pat, reduced to watching her daughter from the grandstand following a cartilage operation last week, admitted to being "terrified".

Radcliffe senior need not have worried. Only in the closing stages did Radcliffe show signs of tiredness, having covered the 25th mile in five minutes, six seconds, the fastest of the race and only 11 seconds slower than the men at the same stage, who were on world-record pace.

Marathon men: Evolution of world record since 1945

2:25:39 Yun Bok Suh (South Korea) BostonApr 1947

2:20:43 Jim Peters (Britain) Chiswick, EnglandJun 1952

2:18:41 Peters ChiswickJun 1953

2:18:35 Peters Turku, FinlandOct 1953

2:17:40 Peters ChiswickJun 1954

2:15:17 Sergei Popov (Soviet Union) StockholmAug 1958

2:15:17 Abebe Bikila (Ethiopia) Rome OlympicsSep 1960

2:15:16 Toru Terasawa (Japan) Beppu, JapanFeb 1963

2:14:28 Buddy Edelen (US) ChiswickJun 1963

2:13:55 Basil Heatley (Britain) ChiswickJun 1964

2:12:12 Bikila Tokyo OlympicsOct 1964

2:12:00 Morio Shigematsu (Japan) ChiswickJun 1965

2:09:37 Derek Clayton (Australia) Fukuoka, Japan Dec 1967

2:08:34 Clayton AntwerpMay 1969

2:08:18 Rob de Castella (Australia) Fukuoka Dec1981

2:08:05 Steve Jones (Britain) Chicago Oct 1984

2:07:12 Carlos Lopes (Portugal) Rotterdam Apr 1985

2:06:50 Belayneh Dinsamo (Ethiopia) Rotterdam Apr 1988

2:06:05 Ronaldo da Costa (Brazil) Berlin Sep 1998

2:05:42 Khalid Khannouchi (Morocco) ChicagoOct 1999

2:05:38 Khannounchi London Apr 2002