London Marathon Women’s Elite Race Preview

The women’s race features the strongest-ever line-up in the history of the London Marathon. Defending champion and world 10 km record holder Yalemzerf Yehualaw, world marathon record holder Brigid Kosgei, reigning Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir, reigning Olympic 5000m and 10000m champion Sifan Hassan, Ethiopian track stars Genzebe Dibaba and Almaz Ayana will be in the spotlight at this year’s edition.

Yehualaw won the Hamburg Marathon in her PB of 2:17:23 on her debut over the 42.195 km distance in 2022 and came close to her record when she won the London Marathon in 2:17:26. The Ethiopian runner holds the world 10 km record with 29:14 in Castellon and set the second fastest time in history over the half marathon distance with her lifetime best of 1:03:51 in Valencia.

Kosgei will be making her fourth appearance at the London Marathon. Kosgei won back-to-back titles in the British capital in 2019 in 2:18:20 and 2020 in 2:18:58 and broke Paula Radcliffe’s world record with 2:14:04 in Chicago in 2019.

Fellow Kenyan Jepchirchir will run for the first time in her career in London. The former world half marathon record holder has remained unbeaten in all of her five marathon races. This winning streak includes Saitama in 2:23:50, Valencia in her PB of 2:17:16, the Olympic Games in Sapporo 2021 in 2:27:20, the New York Marathon in 2:22:39 and the 2022 Boston Marathon in 2:22:01.

Sifan Hassan will run her debut marathon after a very successful track career in which she won two gold medals in the 5000m and in the 10000m and the bronze medal in the 1500m at the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2021 and two world gold medals in the 1500m and 10000m at the World Championships in Doha 2019. The Dutch athlete of Ethiopian origin has set European records over all distances at 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, 10000m and half marathon. She clocked 1:05:15 in the half marathon in Copenhagen in 2018 and ran two sub-1:06 half marathon races in 2019 clocking 1:05:45 in Berlin and 1:05:53 in Valencia. Hassan will run her first road race since October 2019. Hassan will turn her attention to the track after London, including the World Championships in Budapest.

Hassan has spent four months training at altitude in Ethiopia alongside her coach Tim Rowberry. She aims to qualify for the Olympic Games in Paris.

Ayana and Dibaba made their marathon debut in Amsterdam. Ayana, who won the 2016 Olympic gold in the 10000 metres setting the world record with 29:17.45, won the Amsterdam Marathon last…