Sun Yingjie, who won the women's world half-marathon championship in New Delhi, India, early this month, retained the Beijing marathon title in a below-par time of two hours 24 minutes and 11 seconds here on Sunday.

The men's title was won by Kenya's James Moiben in 2:10:42, Tansania's Christphor Isegwe took the second in 2:10:56 and DPR Korea's Ri Kyong Chol finished third in 2:15:24.

Sun, 25, stayed in the leading pack throughout the grueling race of 42.195 kilometers starting from the city center's Tian'anmen Square and pulled away in the final kilometers to win the race at north Beijing Olympic Center in a time of two hours 24 minutes and 11 seconds.

But the time is a far cry from her personal best of 2:19:39, which was world's second all-time best and was clocked in her winning last year's race.

The second and third places in the women's race were also won by China, with Zhou Chunxiu, winner of the Xiamen marathon early this year, taking the second in 2:28:42 and Dai Yanyan winning thethird in 2:29:58.

Sun, last year's world 10,000m bronze medalist in Paris, was one of China's biggest medal hopefuls in track and field in the Athens Olympic Games but returned home empty handed after competing in the 5,000m and 10,000m.

Her training partner Xing Huina surprised all to win the 10,000m gold medal in Athens but failed to enter today's race.

Sun said that two wins after the Olympics will boost her confidence in preparation for the Beijing Olympic Games, although it's four years away.

"I feel very excited to win the race," she said. "I was very disappointed back from Athens, but now I will start to prepare forthe 2008 Games. To this ends, I will adjust my for and lay a goodfoundation for the Beijing Olympics. I'm very confident."

Sun, who is still recovering from a foot injury, said she was not happy with the results.

"The race is tough," she said. "In the first 15 kilometers, there are too many runners in the course. I was unable to speed up.I think organizers have some problems there.

"Anyway, I am very satisfied that the long and difficult seasonfinally ended up with two wins."

Moiben's win was his second in China following the Xiamen marathon triumph in southeast China's Fujian Province early this year.

"I am very happy with the win," a beaming Moiben said. "The Chinese people are very good and I hope to run here next year." Enditem

Factbox of Sun Yingjie

Age: 25 (January 19, 1979)

Place of birth: Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China

Weight: 48kg

Height: 1.64 meters

Career achievements:

April 1998: National marathon champion

Oct. 1998: Winner of Dalian marathon in north China;

May 1999: Winner of National marathon championship;

Oct. 2000: Second in Beijing marathon;

April 2001: Fourth in Boston maraton;

Nov. 2001: Second in 10,000m in 9th National Games;

April 2002: Retained fourth place in Boston marathon;

Oct. 2002: Second in Beijing marathon; Winners in both 5,000m and 10,000m at Asian Games in Busan, South Korea;

Aug. 2003: Won 10,000m bronze medal in the world championships in Paris;

Oct. 2003: Won Beijing marathon;

April 2004: 7th in London marathon;

Aug. 2004: 8th in the 5,000m and 5th in the 10,000m in the Athens Olympic Games;

Oct. 3, 2004: Won world half-marathon champion in New Delhi, India;

Oct. 17, 2004: Retained Beijing marathon champion.

Source: Xinhua