With the temperature at about 29 degrees, and humidity at about 48 per cent, conditions that were significantly more forgiving than those that had seen a slew of women marathoners pulling out on the opening day of the Championships, although they proved too much for 18 who failed to finish from a field of 73.

Desisa clocked a season’s best of 2 hours 10min 40sec, with Geremew four seconds back in a race that finished after 2am.

Bronze went to Kenya’s Amos Kipruto, who finished in 2:10:51, with Britain’s Callum Hawkins clocking 2:10:57 to repeat his fourth placing at the 2017 World Championships marathon in London.

The two Ethiopians were part of a group that caught up with early breakaway leader Derlys Ayala of Paraguay just before half-way point and maintained enough energy to push on to glory in the final kilometre.

They eventually left in their wake Kipruto, who had also been a part of the long-time leading group, and Hawkins, whose massive mid-race effort brought him into the lead group of three with only a couple of kilometres to go.

The effort to get there, however, proved to be too costly for the Briton, who collapsed in the heat of the Gold Coast last year when only a mile or so from what looked like being an overwhelming Commonwealth Games win.

"I'm gutted," a tearful Hawkins said.

"I couldn't have done any more."

So Desisa went one better than he had in 2013, when he also donated his Boston Marathon winning medal back to the city in sympathy with the bombing that took place near the finish line nearly three hours after he had passed it.

"It was hot, but I prepared perfectly for this race," Desisa, winner of the New York City Marathon last year, said.

"I am very tired. 

"But after I took silver in Moscow, this time I kept my power better."

Despite the high reputation of Ethiopian runners, this was the first victory for them in the men's IAAF World Championship marathon since Gezahegne Abera won at Edmonton in 2001.