Tanni was happy with her performance

The eight-times Paralympic gold-medallist - who has a 14-month-old baby - was beaten by Italian Francesca Porcellato.

Tanni, who began training for her triumphant win last year just three weeks after baby Carys arrived, admitted that she was still pleased with her performance, despite being knocked into second place.

"I'm really pleased - I was much quicker than last year," she said.

"I just died on the cobbles - I hate them so much, but that's just part of London.

"It never gets any easier - they just seem to get longer and longer every year."

Vowing to win back her title next year, the Cardiff-born athlete said she was managing well to accommodate training, being a mother, and working as a TV presenter with BBC Wales.

"It's actually quite a nice break to get away from looking after Carys and working to get out to do some training - and I love London so much," she said.

"There is no other marathon in the world that has people out the whole length of the course, and that makes it worth doing."

Tanni said she still had many sporting ambitions for the future.

"I want to get through to Athens next year, and I think then I'll probably have a couple of years doing a bit of road racing and doing the stuff that I want to do," she said.