Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor recovered from falling flat on his face at the start to retain his world half-marathon title in Cardiff yesterday.

Kamworor and fellow Kenyan Bedan Karoki Muchiri were shoulder to shoulder approaching the final mile before Kamworor forged ahead through horizontal rain and gusting winds for victory.

Olympic and world 5,000m and 10,000m champion Mo Farah gave the sodden home fans something to cheer on a dismal Easter weekend as the Briton kept plenty in the tank to produce a late dash and take the bronze medal.

Kenya’s women completed a second successive clean sweep of the podium with Peres Jechirchir kicking away from pre-race favourite Cynthia Limo near the finish to take the title.

Kamworor’s race began farcically as he slipped over on the start line and was almost buried under a stampede of athletes before climbing back to his feet and carrying on.

He was quickly up with the leaders though and while the world record of 58:23 minutes was ultimately beyond him in the atrocious conditions his winning time of 59:10 was impressive.