Sabastian Sawe and Jacob Kiplimo will renew their rivalry at the TCS London Marathon on Sunday, 26 April, while Tigst Assefa returns to defend her title in the women’s race. Sawe won last year’s race in 2:02:27, the second-fastest time ever run in London, and he has not lost a marathon since making his debut at the distance.
The Kenyan said the course record of 2:01:25 set by Kelvin Kiptum in 2023 may need to fall if he is to win again. “The TCS London Marathon course is one of the most beautiful and fastest courses in the world,” Sawe said. “It was my first time running in London last year and it was one of the proudest moments of my life to cross the line as champion. I am excited to be coming back in 2026 and I know now a little bit more about what I can expect. I am sure with the quality of athletes coming to London it will take another fast time to win again, perhaps the type of effort the great Kelvin Kiptum put in when he set the course record in 2023.”
Sawe arrives in London having won his debut marathon in Valencia in 2:02:05 in 2024 before following up with victory in Berlin in 2:02:16. Kiplimo was runner-up to Sawe on his own marathon debut in London, when he set a Ugandan record of 2:03:37, and later improved that mark to 2:02:23 when winning in Chicago in October. He also won his third consecutive world cross-country title in Tallahassee and set a world half marathon record of 57:20 in Lisbon last month, pending ratification.
The men’s field also includes Joshua Cheptegei, who will make his London Marathon debut after three marathons and a best of 2:04:52 for fifth place in Amsterdam last October. Tamirat Tola returns for a fifth appearance in London, where he has finished in the top six on four occasions, while his lifetime best of 2:03:39 and a Doha Marathon win in 2:05:40 earlier this year underline his pedigree. Yomif Kejelcha is set for his marathon debut, with Amos Kipruto, the 2022 London winner, Geoffrey Kamworor, a two-time New York City Marathon champion, Deresa Geleta, the ninth-fastest man in history over the marathon with 2:02:38, and Amanal Petros, Germany’s world marathon silver medallist, also in the field. British fans will also have Patrick Dever, Philip Sesemann and Mahamed Mahamed to follow.
Assefa is back after winning last year’s race in a women-only world record of 2:15:50, and her personal best remains 2:11:53, set in Berlin in 2023. “Winning last year’s TCS London Marathon and setting a women-only world record was one of the proudest moments of my career and I want to repeat that again this year,” she said. She comes in with two Berlin wins, world and Olympic silver medals and top-two finishes in her past six marathons. That makes the women’s race as much a defence as a chase: Assefa is trying to repeat, while the rest of the field is trying to make sure London does not produce the same script twice.