London Marathon 2025: Tigst Assefa breaks women’s only record, Sabastian Sawe wins men’s race

Details: East Africa; 27 April 2025; 713

Tigst Assefa of Ethopia won the London Marathon in a women’s only record time of 2.15:50, as Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe won the men’s race.

Assefa eclipsed the previous women’s only record set by Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir last year by 26 seconds, with the course record still held by Paula Radcliffe’s 2:15:25 time in 2003 — a mixed race when men and women started at the same time.

Kenya’s Joyciline Jepkosgei finished second in the women’s race with a time of 2:18:43, with third-place Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands recording 2:18:59.

28-year-old Assefa previously held the standard women’s world record with her time of 2:11:53, set in a mixed gender race at the 2023 Berlin Marathon, but this fell to Ruth Chepngetich of Kenya, who ran 2:09:56 at the 2024 Chicago Marathon.

Sawe, 29, won the men’s race in a time of 2:02:27, one minute and 33 seconds quicker than his compatriot Alexander Mutiso Munyao’s success in 2024.

24-year-old Jacob Kiplimo finished second, 70 seconds behind Sawe, while Abdi Nageeye of the Netherlands was edged out into third by last year’s winner Mutiso after a sprint finish.

The legendary Kenyan runner Eliud Kipchoge, 40, finished sixth in 2:05:25.

Alex Yee, the Olympic triathlon champion, finished in 13th place, with a time of 2:11:06, the second faster Briton behind Mahamed Mahamed, who ranked ninth with 2:08:52.

Swiss success with another wheelchair double

There was a double success for Switzerland in the wheelchair races, with Marcel Hug and Catherine Debrunner both securing victories.

Hug won the men’s wheelchair race for the seventh time and for a fifth year in a row with a time of 1:25:25.

Hug was in a class of his own, finishing 44 seconds clear of second-place Tomoki Suzuki of Japan, with Jetze Plat of the Netherlands completing the men’s podium a further 40 seconds back.

In the women’s race, Debrunner recorded a time that would have placed her among the top 10 in the men’s race as she secured her third victory in London in the space of four years.

Debrunner finished in a time of 1:34:18, two seconds shy of her world record, with Susannah Scaroni of the US three minutes and 50 seconds back in second, and Debrunner’s compatriot Manuela Schar in third with a time of 1:41:06.