Kiplagat finished in 1 hour, 6 minutes, 25 seconds on the 13.11-mile course, slicing 19 seconds off the mark Elana Meyer set in Tokyo eight years ago.

"I knew it was possible to break the world record," Kiplagat said. "I saw that I was running very fast and I was confident that I could push in the last two laps. I realized that I was running at world record pace and I felt very good."

Paula Radcliffe ran a 1:05:40 on the slightly downhill Great North Run course four years ago, but it was never ratified.

The 32-year-old Kiplagat was born in Kenya but has represented the Netherlands for the past four years. She was returning from a calf injury that kept her out of the track world championships in Japan in August.

Kenyans Mary Jepkosgei Keitany and Pamela Chepchumba finished second and third, 23 seconds behind and 1:41 back, respectively.

Deena Kastor of the United States, one of the pre-race favorites, finished 16th, 3:13 behind Kiplagat.

Going into the final lap, Kiplagat held a four-second lead on Keitany, who rallied to close to within two seconds at the 9.32-mile mark. Kiplagat responded by shifting into another gear and pulling away.

Besides a $30,000 first prize, Kiplagat also picked up $50,000 as a world-record bonus.

Earlier, Zersenay Tadese of Eritrea used a late attack to defend his title in the men's race, winning in 58:59.

Patrick Makau Musyoki of Kenya was three seconds behind, and Evans Kiprop Cheruiyot of Kenya was third, six seconds back.

When Tadese won this event last year in Debrecen, Hungary, it was the first-ever world championship victory for his country in any sport. His bronze in the 10,000 meters at the 2004 Athens Olympics was Eritrea's first Olympic medal.