Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa went one-up on the women’s-only world record while winning the 45th London Marathon on Sunday. She pulled away from Joyciline Jepkosgei of Kenya with whom she had set a scorching early pace, and dashed the final couple of kilometres for a famous win.
The timing however was 25 seconds slower than the course record set by Paula Radcliffe in 2003 when it was a mixed race with men and women starting together.
The 28-year-old Assefa, silver medallist at the 2024 Paris Olympics and a double winner at Berlin marathon, clocked 2:15.50 beating the previous women’s-only record of 2:16:16 set last year in London by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir.
Jepkosgei, 31, came in second in 2:18.44, while Olympic champion Sifan Hassan was third. She fell back unable to keep up with the sizzling early pace, and was home in 2:19.00.
Tigst Assefa celebrates after winning the race with second placed Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei and third Netherlands’ placed Sifan Hassan. (Reuters)
In the men’s event, Sabastian Sawe of Kenya notched his biggest career victory after making a solo breakaway with about 10km left. Nine runners made the leading group before Sawe broke off about 90 minutes into the race and finished in 2:02.27 after kicking at drinks – a bold decision.
It was a risky move as Sawe made good time while his rivals slowed down at a drinks station. The Kenyan opted to not take any water despite sultry temperatures.
Jacob Kiplimo, the half marathon world record holder who was making his full marathon debut, was the only runner able to give chase to Sawe but could never get close to erasing the gap. The Ugandan finished about 70 seconds back in second place.
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Sawe’s only previous marathon win came in Valencia in 2024, though he became the fourth straight Kenyan to win London.
“Last year, I did have some problems with the cold,” said Assefa, who was second in the 2024 London race. “My hamstring tightened up towards the end of the race. This year, the weather suited me really well, and that’s why I’m really pleased with the way the race went. I was second here last year, and to win here this year is very special,” she added.
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