Kenya's Geoffrey Mutai won yesterday's Berlin marathon in two hours, four minutes and 15 seconds, missing out on his attempt to lower the world record of 2:03:38 set at this race by Patrick Makau last year. The 30-year-old Mutai was followed across the line one second back by his compatriot, Dennis Kimetto, who was making his marathon debut, with another Kenyan, Geoffrey Kipsang, in third at 2:16:12. Mutai, winner of the New York marathon in 2011, was second to Makau in 2010. Ethiopia's Aberu Abede won the women's race in 2:20:30, two years after her first success in Berlin. In second came her compatriot Tirfi Tsegaye (2:21:19) with Olena Shurhno of Ukraine in third (2:23:32). AFP
The Melbourne Storm scored three first-half tries and then held tough defensively through a scoreless second half to beat the Canterbury Bulldogs 14-4 to win Australia's National Rugby League championship match yesterday. Before a record crowd of 82,976 at the former Olympic stadium in western Sydney, captain Billy Slater was among the first-half tryscorers as the Storm won their second NRL title. They won their first in 1999, a year after entering the league, but had two premierships taken away in 2007 and 2009 due to salary-cap infringements. AP