Ethiopians dominated the Berlin Marathon on Sunday as Milkesa Mengesha won the men's race and Tigist Ketema claimed victory in the women's event.

Mengesha, 24, ran a personal best time of two hours, three minutes 17 seconds to finish ahead of Kenya's Cyrbian Kotut (2:03:22) and fellow Ethiopian Haymanot Alew.

The last kilometer was an engaging battle between Mengesha and Kotut, but the Ethiopian stepped on the gas in the final stretch and surged over the finish line five seconds ahead.

"I had been training very hard for this course. I knew it is very flat and I can run very fast times," Mengesha said, speaking with the help of a translator.

"But I was at the London Marathon prior to that and I had to stop after 38 kilometers because I had some issues. I was very worried about that."

The pre-race favorite was Ethiopia's Tadese Takele, with five-times winner Eliud Kipchoge not competing. Takele finished seventh.

The women's podium was all-Ethiopian, Ketema's time of 2:16:42 seeing her cross the finish line more than two minutes ahead of Mestawot Fikir and Bosena Mulatie.

Ketema opened up a sizeable lead in the first half of the run and clinched victory in the third-fastest time ever run in the event.

"I'm very grateful to be in Berlin. I am very happy and with the help of God I was able to win this race," 26-year-old Ketema said.

Ketema's time was five minutes slower than Tigst Assefa's winning effort of 2:11:53 last year, which is the women's marathon world record.

A number of big names were missing in the Berlin race held just over a month after the end of the Paris Olympics.