Australia's Liam Adams has finished an impressive ninth at the Berlin Marathon won by Kenya's Olympic champion Eliud Kipchoge on Sunday.
Adams' time of two hours, 12 minutes and 52 seconds in damp conditions in the German capital was a personal best and also a qualifier for next year's Commonwealth Games.
Kipchoge (2:03:32) was more than nine minutes ahead of Adams, but missed out on a world record.
The last six men's marathon world records have been set in Berlin, with Kenyan Dennis Kimetto's mark of 2:02:57 in 2014 still standing.
The Berlin marathon is famous for world records because of the mostly flat course and temperate September weather.
Kipchoge, who also won in Berlin in 2015, now remains unbeaten in the distance since 2013.
The Kenyan ran the world's fastest unofficial marathon on a car race track in Italy in May, just missing the magic two hour barrier when he clocked 2:00:25 in a sportswear company publicity stunt.
Kipchoge's May time did not count in the record books because of the in-and-out pacemaker strategy used over the 42.195km distance.
Kipchoge held off a sustained challenge from Ethiopia's race debutant Guye Adola (2:03:46) with compatriot Mosinet Geremew third in 2:06:12.
It was a Kenyan double with Gladys Cherono winning the women's race for the second time.
Cherono followed up her 2015 victory by winning in 2:20:23 ahead of Ruti Aga of Ethiopia with 2:20:41 and Valary Aiyabei from Kenya with 2:20:53.
The Berlin race was run on the day of the German election, causing minor problems for those wanting to get to polling stations to cast their vote.
