The three-time Olympic gold medallist was targeting a world record, but the early trip put him out of contention and the Ethiopian pulled out just after the halfway point.

It is the second time that Bekele has dropped out of the Dubai Marathon, having suffered a hamstring injury two years ago.

If Bekele managed the world record, he would have become the first man in history to hold the 5,000 metres, 10,000m and marathon records at the same time.

Tola, who earned the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, emphasised just how much progress he has made in the marathon by taking more than two minutes off his personal best (PB) of 2:06:17.

A lead pack of eight went through 10 kilometres in 28:57 and the group was reduced to six men by half way, which was reached in 1:01:33.

Shortly before 30 kilometres the last of Tola's challengers, Sisay Lemma, dropped back.

At that point Tola was still only one second shy of world record pace, 1:27:39, but the final pacemaker then dropped out, and with almost a minute lead by 35km, Tola could afford to increase speed.

Tola’s winning time of 2:04:11 was more than a minute outside the world record of 2:02:57 set by Kenya’s Dennis Kimetto in Berlin in 2014, but it comfortably broke Ayele Abshero’s course record of 2:04:23 from 2012.

Another Ethiopian, Mule Wasihun, had dropped back to third at one point, but he rallied to finish second in 2:06:46.

Lemma held on for third and completed the Ethiopian sweep in 2:08:04.

“The pace was very fast at the start,” he said.

“The 15km time was much too fast.

“But when we found that Kenenisa was well behind, I became more confident.

“I’m happy to win, but I think I could have run under 2:04.”

It was a similar finale in the women’s race, which was also won by an Ethiopian, Worknesh Degefa.

A group of 10 women passed through 10km in 33:37 and nine of them remained in the pack as they went through the half-way mark in 1:11:06.

By 25km, the group was down to seven women but marathon debutante Degefa then began to increase the pace.

By the time she reached 30km, Degefa was accompanied by just Shure Demise, the Ethiopian who ran 2:20:59 on her marathon debut while still a teenager in 2015.

Demise managed to claw back some of the deficit in the penultimate kilometre, but when she saw that Degefa was still running strongly, she was forced to settle for second.

Degefa won in 2:22:36, the 12th fastest marathon debut in history, while Demise clocked 2:22:57, the second-best time of her career.

Compatriot Yebrgual Melese completed the Ethiopian sweep with a PB of 2:23:13.