Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa smashed the women-only world record by 26 seconds at the TCS London Marathon, running 2:15:50* to win the World Athletics Platinum Label Road race.

On a warm and sunny day, the Olympic silver medallist kicked away from Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei to clinch her first London Marathon win after finishing second to Peres Jepchirchir last year.

Jepchirchir’s winning mark of 2:16:16 a year ago had also been a women-only world record and that is the mark Assefa improved, finishing strongly to win by almost three minutes ahead of Jepkosgei (2:18:44). Olympic champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands was third (2:19:00).

The men’s race was won by Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe in a dominant 2:02:27 – the second-fastest ever London Marathon time. World half marathon record-holder Jacob Kiplimo was second on his marathon debut, setting a Ugandan record of 2:03:37, and defending champion Alexander Mutiso Munyao of Kenya was third in 2:04:20. The top eight finished inside 2:07.

Given the strength of the field, the women-only world record was always the target. With that in mind, the lead group of Jepkosgei, Assefa, Hassan and Megertu Alemu followed the pacemakers through 5km in a blistering 15:34 – not only inside the targeted 2:15 pace, but on sub-2:12 rhythm.

The quartet maintained that pace through 10km, hitting that mark in 31:16. Hassan dropped back a little after the water station but rejoined the leaders and they all reached 15km in 47:11.

A significant gap opened up after 15km and while Hassan rallied, she was five seconds back at 20km – a deficit that would only increase. Assefa and Jepchirchir broke away by the halfway point, which they passed in 1:06:40, 10 seconds ahead of Hassan. Alemu was running in fourth place, two and a half minutes behind the leaders, but she dropped out before reaching 25km.

The final remaining pacemaker left the race at 25km and it was down to Assefa and Jepkosgei. Hassan was 26 seconds back, with Haven Hailu Desse, Stella Chesang and Vivian Cheruiyot following a further three minutes behind.

The leading pair continued to move away from the rest of the field and after 35km was reached in 1:52:12, Assefa made a break. After miles of 5:26, 5:26 and 5:28, a 5:03 24th mile made the difference and by 40km Assefa was 56 seconds ahead.

She finished hard to stride over the finish line in 2:15:50 – the third-fastest marathon of her career behind the 2:11:53 she ran to win in Berlin in 2023, a mark that at the time was a world record for a women’s marathon in a mixed race, and her 2:15:37 also from Berlin in 2022.

Assefa’s 2:11:53 remains the second-fastest women’s marathon of all time behind the 2:09:56 achieved by Ruth Chepngetich to break Assefa’s world record in Chicago in October.

“Having won today, what I am really thinking about going forward is to try and get my world record back for the marathon,” explained Assefa, speaking through an interpreter. “When I crossed the line, I felt extreme happiness.”

Asked about her race strategy, she added: “I was training for all outcomes. I felt I could win with a sprint; I could also win with a long run from home. The main thing was to prepare well, and that’s what I did.”

Jepkosgei, the 2021 London Marathon champion, worked hard to hold on to the runner-up spot and finished 2:54 behind Assefa. Hassan, who claimed a dramatic London marathon victory on her debut at the distance in 2023 and who pipped Assefa to the Olympic title in Paris last year, was a further 16 seconds behind them.

Desse, the 2023 Osaka Women’s Marathon champion, finished fourth in a PB of 2:19:17 and 2018 London Marathon champion Cheruiyot was fifth in 2:22:32, 10 seconds ahead of Chesang. Italy’s Sofiia Yaremchuk was seventh in a national record of 2:23:14, while Great Britain’s Commonwealth 10,000m champion Eilish McColgan, whose mother Liz McColgan won the London Marathon in 1996, ran 2:24:25 on her marathon debut for eighth place.

(World Athletics)