Korir crossed the line with a time of 2:05:49 in the French capital to shave more than a minute off his previous best of 2:07:08, which he set in finishing second at the 2013 Seoul Marathon.

Although his compatriot Mike Kigen had tried to run away from the field about 32 kilometres into the race, the 30 year-old winner overhauled him with just over 5km to go for arguably the biggest win of his career to date.

“I didn’t expect to win at all, and I did not expect such a great time,” said a humble Korir, who finished second in the Paris Half Marathon last month in 1:00:48.

“I knew there were a lot of strong guys in the line-up who had run below 2:07, so the victory today was quite a surprise for me.

“I knew training had been going great recently, so at around 33km I thought that there was a possibility that I could win; however I did still realise that I was racing some great competitors.

“I didn’t go off with Kigen at the beginning because I wanted to run at my own pace and it worked out very well.

“I am very pleased with this new PB.

“Although today was a great, injury free race, I think I can go even faster than my time today.

“I believe I can go as fast as 2:04.”

Another Kenyan Luka Kanda came through for second place in a personal best of 2:07:20, while Ethiopia’s Seboka Tola ran 2:07:33 for third.

Unfortunately for Kigen he flagged badly over the final 5km and eventually finished.

Elsewhere in the 39th edition of the International Association of Athletics Federations Gold Label Road Race, Mengistu took almost six minutes off her best to win the women’s event in 2:23:24.

She was followed to the line by her compatriot Amane Gobena and Kenya’s Visiline Jepkesho, who finished in second and third place both with personal bests of 2:23:29 and 2:24:42 respectively.