By Chris Chavez
January 29, 2026
The 2026 London Marathon men’s and women’s elite fields have been released and we are now all sorted on where the world’s best marathoners will be flocking for the 2026 spring marathon season.
Whereas Boston drew all of the top American talent and may not have the strongest international field, London has no top Americans but the world’s fastest on both sides.
You can find the full fields at the bottom of this article. Here are some quick takes and thoughts on this year’s field.
WOMEN’S RACE
– The 2026 London Marathon will feature a historic clash of champions as defending champion and women-only world record holder Tigst Assefa returns to face Olympic champion Sifan Hassan and World champion Peres Jepchirchir. With Hellen Obiri choosing to run London over Boston, we will also see the first time all three Olympic medalists share a start line since their dramatic showdown at the 2024 Summer Games in Paris.
– Assefa’s women-only world record set in London last year is 2:15:50. Four women in the field may have personal bests faster than that but she is still the fastest of them all with her second all time performance of 2:11:53. She will be looking for revenge on both Hassan and Jepchirchir who each narrowly outsprinted her to gold medals at the Olympics and World Championships in the final meters.
– Jepchirchir is the reigning World champion from Tokyo and won this race in 2024. She showed recent sub-2:15 form with a 2:14:43 runner-up finish in Valencia last month.
– Jocyline Jepkosgei is a regular in London and is coming off a Valencia victory in 2:14:00. She finished 2025 as the fastest women’s marathoner in the world with that performance. She won London in 2021 and was second to Assefa in 2025. With her included this field features four of the six fastest women in history
– Obiri opted to pass on Boston for the first time since 2023 and will make her London debut fresh off a NYC Marathon victory in November. For the longest time, we’ve wondered what Obiri could do on a flat, fast course. We’ll get our answer in April.
– Hassan had a relatively unremarkable 2025 by her incredibly high standards, with a third place finish in London, a win in Sydney and a 5th place in New York comprising her only three races of 2025. She will be looking to recapture the magic in the place where she made her dramatic marathon debut in 2023, winning after stopping to stretch and falling over a minute behind the leaders at half way.
– Not be overlooked: Uruguayan star Julia Paternain, the surprise bronze medallist at the 2025 World Championships is lining up for her first race since Tokyo. She makes her London debut as she returns to the country where she raced as a junior, coming second in the Mini London Marathon (the last three miles of the London course) in 2017. This means with Jepchirchir, Assefa and her, the London field also boasts the entire World Championship podium.
– The home hopes of the British crowd likely rest with Eilish McColgan who debuted in London last year in 2:24:25 but after a number of injury plagued years looks like she is finally returning to the form which saw her run 30:00 for 10,000m on the track and 65:43 for the half marathon in 2023, setting a 30:08 European road 10km record in Valencia in early January. She will be joined by the likes of Charlotte Purdue (2:22:17) and Rose Harvey (2:23:17) and it will be intriguing to see how Jess Warner-Judd (2:24:45) fares off the back of an impressive 7th place finish on her debut in New York in the fall.
– If you’re wondering where former marathon world record holder Brigid Kosgei is racing this spring, she opted for the Tokyo Marathon. Kosgei will be joined there by Sutume Asefa Kebede (5th-fastest woman of 2025), Rosemary Wanjiru (2025 Berlin Marathon champion), and Hawi Feysa (3rd-fastest woman of 2025). Kosgei is also reportedly in the process of switching allegiance from Kenya to Turkey ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
MEN’S RACE
– On the men’s side, defending champion Sabastian Sawe will return to the 2026 London Marathon on April 26 to take on Olympic champions, world record holders and promising stars making their debuts. Sawe believes the winner may need to break the course record of 2:01:25 set by Kelvin Kiptum in 2023. Sawe’s 2:02:27 win in 2025 featured a 60:57 second-half split.
– Sawe was the 2025 winner in 2:02:27, which was the second-fastest time in course history. He's unbeaten in all 3 career marathons since making his debut at the 2024 Valencia Marathon. Had it not been for warm race day conditions in Berlin last September, it’s presumed Sawe could have run under 2:02.
– Jacob Kiplimo was the 2025 London Marathon runner-up in his 26.2-mile debut. In the fall, he notched his first World Marathon Major victory at the Chicago Marathon, where he found himself on world record pace through 30K. Kiplimo vs. Sawe was the duel needed this spring and London has secured the rematch rights. Kiplimo became a three-time World Cross Country champion in Tallahassee in a dominant performance.
– Joshua Cheptegei, the world record holder in the 5000m (12:35) & 10,000m (26:11), will make his London Marathon debut. After a somewhat disappointing (by world record holder standards) 2:08:59 marathon debut in Valencia in 2023, he improved in each of his two marathons in 2025 finishing with a 2:04:52 for fourth place at the Amsterdam Marathon in the fall. This is the deepest marathon he’s faced.
– Olympic champion Tamirat Tola was fifth in London last year. Injuries prevented him from running a fall marathon but he started 2026 with a 2:05:40 victory and course record at the Doha Marathon.
– Apologies for getting this deep into the article and burying the news of one of the most highly-anticipated debuts, as Yomif Kejelcha, the silver medalist in the 10,000m at last year’s World Championships in Tokyo, will be making his debut. Kejelcha is No. 2 on the all-time half marathon list with his 57:30 from the 2024 Valencia Half Marathon. (Although he’s technically the world record holder since Kiplimo’s 56:42 from last year’s Barcelona Half Marathon has yet to be ratified.) His compatriot Hagos Gebrhiwet will also be making his marathon debut after posting the second-fastest 5000m time in history (12:36.73) in 2024.
– Amanal Petros, the 2025 World Championship marathon silver medalist who missed gold by 0.03s, will also have a chance at Bashir Abdi’s 2:03:36 European marathon record. Petros ran 2:04:03 for an impressive second place finish and German record in Valencia in December..
– Emile Cairess leads the domestic charge for Great Britain and is targeting Mo Farah's British record of 2:05:11 set at the 2018 Chicago Marathon after an impressive pacing job helping Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee leapfrog him into second place on the British all time list in Valencia in December. After suffering with injury for much of 2025 following a fourth place finish at the Olympics, he is keen to finally show the world the improvements in his fitness since Paris.
– Cairess will be joined by fellow fast Brits Mahamed Mahamed (2:07:05) and Phil Sesemann (2:07:11) who will be looking to break the 2:07 barrier after struggling with warmer than usual conditions in London in 2025. However perhaps the most intriguing is what Puma Elite’s Paddy Dever can do on a faster course after a standout debut with a fourth place finish in New York in November (only a second off the podium behind the now provisionally suspended Albert Korir).
Women’s Professional Field
- 🇪🇹 Tigst Assefa (2:11:53 PB)
- 🇳🇱 Sifan Hassan (2:13:44)
- 🇰🇪 Joyciline Jepkosgei (2:14:00)
- 🇰🇪 Peres Jepchirchir (2:14:43)
- 🇪🇹 Megertu Alemu (2:16:34)
- 🇰🇪 Hellen Obiri (2:17:41)
- 🇪🇹 Degitu Azimeraw (2:17:58)
- 🇰🇪 Catherine Relin Amanang’ole (2:20:34)
- 🇬🇧 Charlotte Purdue (2:22:17)
- 🇪🇸 Laura Luengo (2:22:31)
- 🇬🇧 Rose Harvey (2:23:21)
- 🇬🇧 Abbie Donnelly (2:24:11)
- 🇦🇷 Florencia Borelli (2:24:18)
- 🇬🇧 Eilish McColgan (2:24:25)
- 🇬🇧 Jessica Warner-Judd (2:24:45)
- 🇫🇷 Fadouwa Ledhem (2:25:50)
- 🇪🇸 Marta Galimany (2:26:14)
- 🇬🇧 Lucy Reid (2:26:35)
- 🇺🇾 Julia Paternain (2:27:09)
- 🇬🇧 Louise Small (2:27:48)
- 🇬🇧 Alice Wright (2:28:48)
- 🇬🇧 Verity Hopkins (2:31:19)
Men’s Professional Field
- 🇰🇪 Sabastian Sawe (2:02:05 PB)
- 🇺🇬 Jacob Kiplimo (2:02:23)
- 🇪🇹 Deresa Geleta (2:02:38)
- 🇰🇪 Amos Kipruto (2:03:13)
- 🇪🇹 Tamirat Tola (2:03:39)
- 🇩🇪 Amanal Petros (2:04:03)
- 🇰🇪 Geoffrey Kamworor (2:04:23)
- 🇺🇬 Joshua Cheptegei (2:04:52)
- 🇯🇵 Shunya Kikuchi (2:06:06)
- 🇬🇧 Emile Cairess (2:06:46)
- 🇬🇧 Mahamed Mahamed (2:07:05)
- 🇬🇧 Philip Sesemann (2:07:10)
- 🇫🇷 Hassan Chahdi (2:07:30)
- 🇿🇦 Adam Lipschitz (2:08:54)
- 🇬🇧 Patrick Dever (2:08:58)
- 🇮🇪 Peter Lynch (2:09:36)
- 🇦🇺 Tim Vincent (2:09:40)
- 🇬🇧 Weynay Ghebresilasie (2:09:50)
- 🇬🇧 Tewelde Menges (2:09:58)
- 🇬🇧 George James (2:10:10)
- 🇦🇺 Liam Boudin (2:10:28)
- 🇬🇧 Jake Smith (2:11:00)
- 🇬🇧 Marc Scott (2:11:19)
- 🇬🇧 Jack Rowe (2:12:31)
- 🇬🇧 Andrew Fyfe (2:13:20)
- 🇬🇧 Alex Milne (2:14:03)
- 🇬🇧 Peter Le Grice (2:14:45)
- 🇬🇧 Sean Hogan (2:14:51)
- 🇬🇧 Jake Barraclough (2:14:55)
- 🇬🇧 Christopher Thomas (2:14:55)
- 🇬🇧 Chris Perry (2:14:57)
- 🇬🇧 David Bishop (2:15:16)
- 🇬🇧 Charlie Sandison (2:15:38)
- 🇬🇧 William Mycroft (2:15:54)
- 🇪🇹 Yomif Kejelcha (Debut)
- 🇪🇹 Hagos Gebrhiwet (Debut)
- 🇰🇪 Isaia Kipkoech Lasio (Debut)
- 🇬🇧 Alfie Manthorpe (Debut)
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Chris Chavez
Chris Chavez launched CITIUS MAG in 2016 as a passion project while working full-time for Sports Illustrated. He covered the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and grew his humble blog into a multi-pronged media company. He completed all six World Marathon Majors and on Feb. 15th, 2025 finally broke five minutes for the mile.
