London Marathon: Assefa Breaks Women’s World Record and Sawe Claims First Victory

Tigst Assefa full of joy after shattering the women's-only world record.

Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa dominated the field setting a new women’s-only world record, while game smarts from Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe earned him a landmark career victory.

56,000 runners braved the scorching heat to participate in the 42.2km (26.2 miles) race with fans lining the silver fencing to cheer on their loved ones.

Assefa pulled clear from 2021 winner Joyciline Jepkosgei of Kenya with 10km to go, crossing the line in a remarkable two hours 15 minutes and 50 seconds.

The Ethiopian already has two silver medals from London last year and the Paris Olympics, however this gold adds to her collection from the 2022 and 2023 Berlin marathons.

An hour in, Assefa and Jepkosgei took the lead leaving the rest of the pack behind. 

By 30 km the pair, neck-and-neck, held a comfortable pace but both runners started to slow with the 37km mark being a 5.28km/h pace.

Assefa, fed up with the slow speed, took her chance to strike.

2021 winner Joyciline Jepkosgei finished second, nearly three minutes behind Assefa, with 2023 winner and Olympic champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands coming in third.

In the men’s race, novice Sabastian Sawe of Kenya opened up a huge gap with a few kilometres to go, and was able to take the top podium position, unchallenged, in a time of 2:02:26.

Sawe's tactical decision to opt-out of a water break enabled him to withstand pressure from the chasing pack and achieve his first full marathon title.

Half marathon world record holder Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda couldn’t match Sawe’s pace, finishing over a minute later in second place. Kenya’s Alexander Mutiso Munyao - who won in 2024 - came down in third.

Elsewhere in the wheelchair races, it was double glory for the Swiss camp with Marcel Hug taking the victory for a fifth year in a row in 1:25:25. 

His teammate Catherine Debrunner got her third consecutive win finishing in 1:34:18, only two seconds off her world record of 1:34:16.