BY OSABUOHIEN VIVIAN ROSE
Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia poses for the cameras after setting a new women’s only world record time and winning the women’s race at the London Marathon, Sunday, April 27, 2025
Over 56,000 runners were expected to compete in the TCS London Marathon.
Kenyan runner, Sabastian Sawe, made a solo breakaway with about 10 kilometers left and never looked like wavering in the sunshine as he ran to victory in the London Marathon on Sunday. Sawe pulled away from a leading group of nine runners about 90 minutes into the race and finished in 2 hours, 2 minutes and 27 seconds.
Sawe made his move when his rivals slowed down at a drinks station — opting not to take any water despite temperatures that crept toward 18 C (64) as the elite runners were finishing.
“I was well prepared for this race and that’s why it became easy for me to win,” Kawe said.
Jacob Kiplimo, the half marathon world record holder who was making his full marathon debut, was the only runner able to give chase but could not get close to closing the gap. The Ugandan finished 70 seconds back in second place.
29-year-old Sawe’s only previous marathon win came in Valencia in 2024. This was his first start in one of the six marathon “majors” — Tokyo, Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York City — but it’s unlikely to be his last.
“It does give me hope that in the future, the marathon will be so important to me, and be so easy for me,” he said.
He is the fourth Kenyan runner in a row to win the men’s race in London.
In a tight sprint for third place, Alexander Mutiso Munyao of Kenya beat Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands in a photo finish.
In the women’s category, Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia secured her first London Marathon title after pulling away from Joyciline Jepkosgei near the end.
Assefa made up for second-place finishes in London and the Paris Olympics last year, finishing in 2:15:50, breaking a record in a women’s-only marathon — but 25 seconds slower than the course record set by Paula Radcliffe in 2003 when it was a mixed race. She passed that of Peres Jepchirchir during last year’s race who ran for 2:16:16.
The weather in London was a lot warmer this year than in 2024, which Assefa said was to her advantage.
“Last year I did have some problems with the cold, my hamstring tightened up toward the end of the race,” Assefa said through an interpreter. “This year the weather suited me really well.”
Assefa adds this win to two previous Berlin Marathon titles.
Jepkosgei, the 2021 London winner, was almost three minutes back after tiring near the end.
Olympic champion Sifan Hassan fell behind about halfway through the race and finished third, 3:10 behind.
A total of 42 world records were broken at the London marathon on Sunday, Guinness World Records (GWR) has announced.
Radio presenter Adele Roberts also claimed a new world record for the fastest aggregate time to complete all World Marathon Major races with a stoma (female) with a total time of 20:29:58.
Ali Young, 51, broke the world record of the fastest marathon dressed as a bird (female) with a time of 03:26:37.
Ms Young, from Amersham in Buckinghamshire, completed the race dressed in a black and white penguin costume. She had trained beforehand for warm temperatures by spending time in a sauna.
Chris Green, known as Rhino Boy Chris, has completed 113 dressed in a large, grey rhino costume complete with a protruding horn in an effort to raise awareness for the endangered animal. He has a new record of the most marathons run in the same three-dimensional costume (male).
After he crossed the finish line, Mr Green, 49, said he would “love to retire” but that the rhino still “needed saving”.
A doctor from the Wirral, Merseyside, achieved a new world record of the fastest marathon dressed as a three-dimensional plant (male), sunflower in a pot said he raised money for disability charity Scope.
The world record of the fastest marathon dressed as a mythical creature (male) was broken by 39-year-old Adam Cotterill, who wore a white unicorn outfit complete with a rainbow mane that had been chosen by his “unicorn-mad” daughters. He said he was raising money for the maternity ward at his local hospital, Russell Halls in Dudley, and thought his record attempt would “gain more attention”.
Those in fancy dress, some wearing restrictive and thick costumes, pushed to complete the race as temperatures hit 22.2C in the capital on Sunday.
Other records broken included the fastest marathon in a suit (male), the fasted marathon wearing foam clogs (male) and the fastest marathon with Parkinson’s disease (male).
