Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa broke 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 Sunday.
The Olympic silver medallist pulled away from Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei to win her first London Marathon after finishing second to Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya last year.
The Ethiopian indicated that she would run fast at Friday’s press conference, claiming better form than when she set a world record at Berlin Marathon 2023. Assefa smashed Jepchirchir’s women-only world record of 2:16:16 from 12 months ago.
After two second places in 2024 – losing to Jepchirchir in London and Sifan Hassan at Paris Olympics – she promised no sprint finish today. She delivered, with a performance too fast for the world-class field.
“I’m really happy to win and break the [women-only] world record today,” said Assefa after the race. “I’ve worked really hard for this.”
“The conditions were really good, as there was no wind. The pacemakers really pushed the pace early on, which suited me.
“I was pleased with my silver medal [at the Paris Olympic marathon], but today means so much to me to be here in London. It means so much to win the race and break the world record.”
Assefa’s speed matched London’s weather as she led throughout, passing 5K in 15:34, on sub-2:12 pace, with Jepkosgei, Hassan and Ethiopia’s Megertu Alemu behind the two pacers.
At 10K, the lead group of four were on pace for beating the women-only record, staying together until halfway when Alemu dropped back and Hassan struggled. Assefa and Jepkosgei passed halfway in 66:40 – ahead of their 67:30 target – and 10 seconds ahead of Hassan.
For 15K, they ran together, alternating the lead through Canary Wharf as Hassan repeatedly fell behind before recovering at 25K, 26 seconds behind the leaders at 1:19:14. But Assefa’s pace proved too much.
At 30K Hassan was over a minute behind, and after 35K, Assefa broke away from Jepkosgei, creating a minute gap at 40K in 2:08:47.
She accelerated on the Embankment, turned into Parliament Square and passed Buckingham Palace to cross the Finish Line on The Mall in in 2:15:50 – the third-fastest marathon of her career behind the 2:11:53 she ran to win in Berlin in 2023, and her 2:15:37 also from Berlin in 2022.
Joyciline Jepkosgei finished second in 2:18:44 and Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands was third in 2:19:00.
“The last few kilometres were very tough in the heat,” said runner-up Jepkosgei. “The plan was to make the first lap the quickest, and go from there. I’m very happy to finish on the podium.”
After her success at the Paris Olympics last summer, Hassan, the 2023 London marathon champion in such dramatic circumstances, was disappointed with third, saying: “[I had a] very strange feeling out on the course. I’m in very good shape, but I found it really hard to breathe. I need some rest, my body needs recovery.
“Every time I thought I could close the gap, my breathing got harder, and the gap just got bigger. They worked really hard to get rid of me.”
The men’s race was won by Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe in 2:02:27 – the second-fastest London Marathon time. Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo was second on his marathon debut, clocking 2:03:37.
