World Championships 2017: Callum Hawkins fourth as Geoffrey Kirui wins marathon

Callum Hawkins equalled the best performance by a British athlete in the men's marathon at the World Championships by finishing fourth.

Scotland's Hawkins, 25, missed out on the medals but put in an impressive performance with a personal best time of two hours 10.17 minutes.

Kenya's Geoffrey Kirui won gold with a season's best of 2:08:27.

Bahrain's Rose Chelimo won the women's race in 2:27:11, as two-time champion Kenya's Edna Kiplagat took silver.

She pipped the USA's Amy Cragg to the line, although they both finished in a time of 2:27:18. That was USA's first medal in the event since 1983.

Amy Cragg (left), Rose Chelimo of Bahrain (centre) and Edna Kiplagat provided an exciting finish to the race

Great Britain's Aly Dixon led the race up until the final nine miles when she was caught by the pack. The 38-year-old Sunderland runner eventually finished 18th in 2:31:36.

Windsor-born Charlotte Purdue, 26, was the best-placed Briton, coming home in 13th in 2:29:48.

"It was amazing," she told BBC Sport. "I was aiming for a top-20 finish. I knew I could do it.

"When I caught Aly, I gave her encouragement. There was also a British guy shouting at me, 'come on Aly Dixon' - he kept doing it. But apart from that, the crowd were great."

Earlier, Hawkins said he could have finished among the medals had he changed his tactics.

"It is bittersweet. I could just see third place in the distance," said Hawkins, who was ninth in the marathon at the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

"The last five kilometres, I kept the same distance, which was quite frustrating. Maybe I left it a bit late.

"I wanted to get a medal but fourth is still pretty good I guess. I was just hanging on towards the end.

"I'm still young. Hopefully, in the future I can get in the medals. Hopefully, I will push on in the Commonwealth Games and Tokyo 2020 after that."

Hawkins' performance equalled that of fellow Briton Peter Whitehead, who was fourth in the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg.

Ethiopia's Tamirat Tola took silver in 2:09:49, two seconds in front of Tanzania's Alphonce Simbu.

Britain had two other runners in the race, with Andrew Davies 31st in 2:17:59 and Josh Griffiths 39th in 2:20:06.

Griffiths was the club runner who beat Britain's elite men in the London Marathon to qualify for the World Championships.

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'Probably my worst race of the year'

In the men's 400m hurdles heats, Britain's Jack Green hit a hurdle on the final bend.

However, despite finishing fifth and outside the top four automatic qualifying spots, he went through to Monday's semi-finals as a fastest loser.

"I was running really well. I was really pleased until I managed to wear one," said the 25-year-old.

"I should've been in a position where I could have taken that on and won the race but that's the 400m hurdles for you. At least I am through so I have to make those changes for tomorrow."

He described it as his "worst race of the year", adding: "I will make sure tomorrow is much better."

Kyron McMaster, of the British Virgin Islands, was one of the favourites but the 20-year-old was disqualified for a lane infringement.

In the men's 110m hurdles, Andrew Pozzi was the only Briton from three athletes to reach the semi-finals on Sunday evening as David Omoregie and David King failed to progress.

Pozzi, who claimed the European Indoor 60m hurdles title in March, won his heat in 13.28 seconds in the same race as one of the main contenders, Jamaican Ronald Levy, failed to finish.

"I knew I got out very well so once I got to halfway it was about staying clean over the barriers and avoiding any big mistake," said Pozzi.

"Ronald is a big loss to the competition but I'm happy to make it through and make it to the semis tonight.

"I need a little bit faster to go into the final but I'm ready to do that."

Meanwhile, in the women's 400m heats, Zoey Clark was the only Briton to qualify for Monday's semi-finals as team-mates Emily Diamond and Anyika Onuora missed out.

Clark, 22, claimed the third of three automatic qualification spots from her heat with a time of 51.88.

Olympic gold medallist Shaunae Miller-Uibo, of the Bahamas, and world champion Allyson Felix, from America, each won their heats to ease through to progress.

Elsewhere, Britain's Zak Seddon, Ieuan Thomas and Rob Mullett failed to progress to the men's 3,000m steeplechase final on Tuesday.