The 57-year-old Dane, whose best of 2 hours 09min 43sec - set in finishing fifth at the 1985 London Marathon - stood as a national record until 2017, is reported to have died while running on Saturday (February 2) near his home on the island of Bornholm.

Jørgensen, who ran in the 1984 and 1988 Olympic marathons, finishing 19th and 22nd respectively, won the 1988 London race in 2:10:20.

He also finished ninth at the 1987 World Championships in Rome.

His national record was beaten by Sondre Nordstad Moen, who won the Fukuoka Marathon in December 2017 in in 2:05:48.

Jørgensen, who once called himself "the boy who couldn't stand still", was a recognisable figure in races because of his long hair and headband.

He leaves his wife, former World Championship marathon runner Mette Holm Hansen, and daughter Anna Holm, who competed in the 2016 women's Olympic marathon in Rio de Janeiro, finishing 55th.

"My father was the world's best father," Anna Holm told BT Sport.

"A life support for my mother and me.

"I couldn't have wished for any better father.

"We have very strong ties in the family, and it is a shock and a great sadness to us that he is dead.

"We were a threesome, and my father was the strongest."