Kenyan trio headline women's London Marathon showdown
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Reading Time: 2min | Thu. 29.01.26. | 15:33
Standing in their way will be Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa, the defending London Marathon champion and women-only world record holder
Kenyan athletes will once again take centre stage at the TCS London Marathon on Sunday, 26 April, with Peres Jepchirchir, Hellen Obiri and Joyciline Jepkosgei headlining a formidable women’s field.
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Jepchirchir, the reigning world champion, arrives in London after beating defending champion Tigst Assefa at both the 2024 London Marathon and the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo.
Obiri, the Olympic bronze medallist from Paris, will be making her London Marathon debut after setting a New York Marathon course record of 2:19:51 late last year.
Jepkosgei, who finished between Assefa and Sifan Hassan in London last year, comes in fresh from winning the Valencia Marathon in a world-leading time of 2:14:00.
Standing in their way will be Ethiopia’s Tigst Assefa, the defending London Marathon champion and women-only world record holder.
Since 2022, Assefa has recorded two wins in Berlin, one victory in London, claimed Olympic and world silver medals, and set world records of 2:11:53 in mixed races and 2:15:50 in women-only competition.
She has finished in the top two in her last six marathons, with only Jepchirchir and Hassan managing to beat her over the distance in the past two years.
Olympic champion Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands, who outkicked Assefa to win gold at the Paris Games, also returns to London.
Hassan previously won the London Marathon on her debut in 2023 before adding victories in Chicago and Sydney. Uruguay’s Julia Paternain, who made history by winning bronze at the World Championships, is also part of the elite lineup.
European 10 kilometre record holder Eilish McColgan, Jess Warner-Judd and Abbie Donnelly will lead the British challenge.
“For the past two years, the women-only world record has been broken at the TCS London Marathon and with the calibre of athletes we have coming to London this April, it would be no surprise if the record of 2:15:50 set by Tigst Assefa last year is broken once again,” said Hugh Brasher, CEO of London Marathon Events in an interview with World Athletics.
“With the full set of medallists from the Paris Olympic Games, Sifan Hassan, Tigst Assefa and Hellen Obiri, the reigning world champion Peres Jepchirchir, and Joyciline Jepkosgei, who was the fastest woman in the world over the marathon distance last year, it promises to be a spectacular race,” he added.
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