Olympic champion Naoko Takahashi became the first woman to run a marathon under 2 hours and 20 minutes Sunday, winning the Berlin marathon in 2 hours, 19 minutes, 46 seconds.

Takahashi, who led the women's field throughout the 42.195-km race through the German capital, easily eclipsed the previous best time of 2:20:43 set by Kenya's Tegla Loroupe in the 1999 Berlin race.

The 29-year-old Takahashi was running her first marathon since winning the Olympic gold medal at the Sydney Games just over a year ago in 2:23:14.

"It has been my goal since before the Olympics to win the gold medal and to set the world record," the ever-smiling Takahashi said after the race. "Up to now, I have always raced with winning a place in mind, but today I wanted to take a shot at the record."

"The climate and the course today made the running easy, and I was able to run with a feeling of happiness," said Takahashi, who had remarked before the race that she was looking forward to the Berlin event.

She had mentioned then that she thought breaking the world record was possible since she would not face the challenging gradients of a course like in Sydney.

Takahashi would also not have to face the steaming heat of Bangkok, where she posted her previous personal best time of 2:21:47 while winning the gold medal in the 1998 Asian Games.

Takahashi's coach, Yoshio Koide, was concerned before the race when the conditions became chilly. At the end, though, he only had words of praise for his top runner.

"I wasn't sure what was going to happen since it was cold at the start of the race and she was facing a head wind," Koide said. "She ran a great race. If not for the wind, the record might have even been more fantastic."

The sprightly Takahashi left the other women behind early in the race and appeared to deal with the wind by falling in behind a group of male pace-setters.

She appeared content to let the pace-setters plow through the wind ahead and kept glancing at her watch to make sure she stayed on time for her record.

The pace-setters also set up an escort around Takahashi to ensure that no one bumped into her and knocked her off her pace.

Takahashi picked up the pace halfway through the race and at 30 km was 1:30 ahead of Loroupe's world record pace. While she appeared to struggle over the final 10 km, Takahashi was urged on by fans lining the streets waving Japanese flags and calling her name.

The men's race was won by Joseph Ngolepus of Kenya in 2:08:46.