London Marathon: Jepchirchir breaks women’s world record, Munyao beats Bekele in men’s race – live reaction

The winners of the day …

Cairess finishes ahead of Mahamed to take the final podium spot in the elite men’s race. The two have now raced the second and third fastest times by Britons.

I don’t think Cairess knew that he was fighting for third until he finished the race so that must have been a nice surprise for him at the end.

Alexander Munyao wins the elite men’s race

Two Britons are fighting hard for that third spot on the podium in the elite men’s race. Cairess is just ahead of Mahamed and the two will almost certainly be fast enough to qualify for the Olympics.

Mhairi Maclennan finishes with a time of 2:29:13 in her first marathon and becomes the first British women to finish the race.

Munyao now sprints ahead in the elite men’s race. Bekele keeps checking behind him and he seems unfocused on trying to catch up to the 24-year-old.

Lots of talk from the commentators on the colours of the runners fits today. What’s the difference between blue, turquoise, mint and cobalt? What about peach, salmon and apricot? Who knows?

What I do know is that the colour commentary will continue during the 2024 Olympics. We have all the latest on what threads the athletes will be rocking in Paris come this summer.

Assefa and Jepkosgei finished in second and third respectively in the elite women’s race behind Jepchirchir.

We are down to two in the elite men’s race. Bekele, who almost audaciously waves to the crowd, is just ahead with Munyao in second.

It is also a race for third with a crucial Olympics spot up for grabs. It is between Mahamed Mahamed and Cairess.

Peres Jepchirchir wins the elite women’s race

The Olympic champion, who was keen to run well in London to make Paris, Jepchirchir breaks away about 400m away!

Tola is gone in the elite men’s race. Bekele keeps looking back as he leads the now pack of three.

The elite women race still has the four women running as a pack as they pass Big Ben. Are we going to see a sprint race in the last bit of the race at Buckingham Palace?

Bekele is now leading the men’s race. The 41-year-old is a long distance legend but has never won the London Marathon.

About 4.5km to go in the elite women’s race. Still between Assefa, Jepkosgei, Jepchirchir and Alemu. They are at Embankment approaching Blackfriars.

Cairess is away from the pack but he is still under the Olympic qualification time and still has a pacemaker next to him to keep him on track.

It is still unseen as to whether he will break Farah’s record but the main goal in mind was Paris. This is only his second marathon.

Mengesha is leading in the elite men’s race with Tola right behind him. But the pack is still largely together. Who is going to be the first to break away.

Only four remain in the elite women’s race: Assefa, Megertu, Jepkosgei and Jepchirchir. The predicted finish right now is 2:14:56.

Weir, who came third in the elite men’s wheelchair race, has given his assessment on his race:

It was tough, conditions were so tough, it was really windy. I’m happy with my performance. I kept up with Marcel [Hug] to 20 miles, so can’t complain. I promised I’d get back on the podium and I did. Daniel [Romanchuk] is 20 years younger than me, when these guys surge, it’s hell. Can you name another athlete who has done as many marathons as me? Email me if you can.

On if he will be competing at the Paralympics in the summer:

I’m going to take some time off, then I’ll make a decision for Paris. Or British Athletics will make that decision for me.

The elite men’s race has almost hit the halfway mark. Tola is up front and no one has yet to drop off.

Cairess has lost one of his pacemakers as he tries to break Mo Farah’s British record of 2:511.

The top three in the elite women wheelchair race is confirmed. Schär makes podium in second ahead of third place Tatyana McFadden.

Kosgei is dropping off a bit in the elite women’s race. She is almost 50m behind the rest of the pack. Assefa is expectedly leading.

Catherine Debrunner wins the elite women’s wheelchair race

Marcel Hug wins the elite men’s wheelchair race

The elite women’s race is well on schedule for the women’s-only world record. According to the BBC, they current runners are running at a pace to finish three minutes faster. Assefa and Kosgei are neck-in-neck. Which one of them will take the plunge once the pacemakers drop out?

There is 45 second gap between Hug and Weir now. It is now definitely a race for second place between Weir and Romanchuk.

The wind is certainly having a factor on the elite women’s race as they head towards Tower Bridge now.

The pace that they are going at right now is one that only Assefa is comfortable running in. Let’s see if her competitors can keep up.

In the elite men’s wheelchair race, Hug has opened the gap ahead of Weir and Romanchuk. Hug accelerated away a bit earlier and Weir was unable to keep up the pace.

In the elite women’s race, Debrunner is around four minutes clear and, at the moment, looks on course to win. She has been on her own since the first few miles.

We might be looking at two Swiss winners in both of these races.

Lots of world records looking to be broken today, and not just in the elite races. We’ve seen runners looking to break the world record of a marathon completed in traditional Indian dress, the world record of a marathon completed as a live DJ and the world record of someone dressed in an inflatable shark costume.

One of the runners in the elite men’s race is Emile Cairess who eventually wants to break Mo Farah’s British record of 2:05:11, lower his personal best to 2:03 and win an Olympic medal.

I definitely want to break Mo’s British record. I want to run as fast as possible and I feel like I can run a lot quicker than that in the future.

An Olympic medal is also my goal – definitely for Los Angeles. Although for this Olympics, if I can qualify, then I would like to be competitive. I wouldn’t be going there just to make up the numbers.

I’ve definitely progressed a lot. My workouts, mileage, anything you can quantify, is better than before.

The men’s racers are on the start line. Tamirat Tola is the favourite but the 41-year-old Kenenisa Bekele will be competitive as well. Off they go and huge cheers ring out as the last race gets under way. Behind them: the rest of the 50,000 starters. These are record numbers at the London Marathon.

The tribute for Kiptum, an athlete whose memory will live on, has begun ahead of the elite men’s race. A very poignant moment in London.

The final elite race is set to start in about 15 minutes. There will be a 30-second applause before the race in memory of last year’s winner Kelvin Kiptum.

The 24-year-old marathon world record-holder died in February along with his coach Gervais Hakizimana from severe injuries after a car accident.

As of this year, Kiptum has run three of the seven fastest marathons in history and was ranked first among the world’s men’s marathon runners at the time of his death.

And in the men’s race, Hug and Romanchuk are neck-in-neck at the front of the pack as they approach the 14km mark.

The two are actually chatting with each other as the make a turn. Encouraging one another on? A bit of trash talk? Who knows?

Catherine Debrunner has broken free of Manuela Schär and has now passed some of the backmarkers in the men’s wheelchair race.

This is Debrunner’s first Majors appearance this season. She has set new course records at the 2022 Berlin Marathon, breaking five-time winner Schär’s streak of five Berlin wins, and the 2023 Chicago Marathon.

And the women’s elite racers are lined up on the start line. It seems the temperature has plummeted a bit in London as all of them are attempting to warm up their hands and arms.

A good crowd cheers them on as the announcer introduces what many believe is the greatest field assembled at the London Marathon. And they are off!

We’re just over 11 minutes into the elite wheelchair race and the American Daniel Romanchuk is in the lead. Hug and Weir are right behind him in second and third respectively.

Romanchuk was the first American to win the men’s wheelchair division of the New York City Marathon back in 2018 and won the event in London in 2019.

The wheelchair race marks a significant win in disability sport as the London Marathon has become the first marathon in the world to make its prize money for wheelchair athletes the same as the other elite races.

So, all winners in the elite races today will receive £44,000 with the runner-up getting £24,000 and third-place £18,000.

The wheelchair athletes have made their way to the start line and are off in the first elite race of the day.

Russell ‘Hardest Geezer’ Cook was just interviewed on the BBC’s pre-race coverage. Cook ran 9,941 miles from one tip of Africa to the other in under a year and an average of over 28 miles a day.

He began running on 22 April 2023 in South Africa’s most southerly point. During his 352 days of running, Cook raised more than £650,000 for charities.

“I can really only sum it up by saying it was carnage from start to finish,” said Cook on his milestone in Africa. “I think we’re going to find out how badly damaged the body is today. This is my first long run since I’ve been back in the UK.”

Cook also shared that he had 93 hours worth of music that he lent on during his incredible journey. When asked what song he never wants to hear again, he said: “Maybe Toto. It is a good tune but when you hear it one to many times it’s just like …” Fair enough.

In the first elite race of the day, the British wheelchair racing legend David Weir will be racing in his 25th consecutive London Marathon this year.

Weir is the most decorated athlete in the event’s history with eight wins. He will be racing with a new chair which he has broken personal bests and may give him the push he needs for a possible ninth victory in London.

“It’s basically a Formula One chair because it’s made by Sauber (which has a Formula One team under the name Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber), it feels amazing to push,” Weir said.

Weir will be facing the undisputed No 1 wheelchair racer, Marcel Hug. The Switzerland native was the first man to win all six Abbott World Marathon Majors (Tokyo, Boston, Berlin, Chicago, New York and London) in a single season last year and will be aiming for a fourth straight win in London.

Hugh Brasher, the London Marathon race director believes the women’s race may be a tougher race than the Olympics.

No race in the history of our sport has ever had that,” says Brasher. “I have no idea who’s going to win but it’s going to be an incredibly competitive event. This will be a harder marathon to win than the Olympic marathon in Paris, I’m pretty certain of that.

Here is Sean Ingle with more.

So about that record. Ethiopia’s Tigist Assefa has set her sights on further lowering her women’s marathon world record to under two hours 10 minutes – but admits her only goal in today is to win.

Assefa ran 2hr 11min 53sec in Berlin last September – a time that obliterated the previous mark of 2:14:04 set by Brigid Kosgei in 2019.

But when asked whether she was chasing a fast time in London, Assefa was more circumspect. “My goal is to win,” she replied. The sense is that Assefa will not go at full throttle today given that she also has the Olympic marathon in Paris in under four months’ time, she is still the overwhelming favourite.

Assefa will be racing against the former record holder Kosgei, fellow cou Ruth Chepngetich, the Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir and the 2022 London Marathon winner Yalemzerf Yehualaw.

In the men’s race, Tamirat Tola will be keen to match his efforts at the New York City Marathon from November which he won. He came in third in this race last year. His competitors include Mosinet Geremew, who ran the third-fastest time in history at the 2019 London Marathon and Kenenisa Bekele, whose seemingly endless accolades include three Olympic gold medals.

Preamble