Redemption in England: The London Marathon Welcomes Back Some of The Greats
The final World Marathon Major of the season drew to a close last Sunday on a very windy day in London. Peres Jepchirchir took down the deepest field in marathon history to set a new women’s only world record, while Alexander Mutiso won his first-ever Major to beat a revitalised Kenenisa Bekele.
Elite Women
Reigning Olympic marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir sprinted clear of the pack as she entered the final straight, crossing the line in 2:16:16 to break the women’s only marathon world record and win her first World Marathon Major since 2022.
“This is the last event for Kenya to select the team. When I crossed the line, I knew that I was going to defend my title in Paris," she exclaimed after the race.
The leading pack covered the first half in 67 minutes, with the aggressive early pace leaving just seven in contention. That group was reduced to four by 30km as Brigid Kosgei, Tigist Ketema, and Yalemzerf Yehualaw fell off in quick succession.
The leading female quartet at the 2024 London Marathon
The leading quartet consisted of Jepchirchir, marathon world record holder Tigst Assefa, former world record holder Joyciline Jepkosgei, and multiple Major medallist Mergertu Alemu. They entered the final mile four wide and full of nervous energy, with Assefa and Jepchirchir knocking shoulders down Birdcage Walk. Frustrated by Assefa holding the inside line, Jepchirchir flicked to the other side of the road and powered around the penultimate corner, swiftly opening a gap over the rest.
She maintained her lead and charged through the line seven seconds clear of Assefa, with Jepkosgei coming home for third and Alemu fading some 20 seconds back for fourth. All four women finished inside the previous women’s only world record mark.
With that performance, Jepchirchir moves to number 11 on the all-time list. She is the reigning Olympic champion at the distance and has three World Half Marathon titles to her name, so she will undoubtedly be on the plane to Paris later this year. My guess is that Athletics Kenya will give the other two spots to Boston champion Hellen Obiri and Boston runner-up Sharon Lokedi, both of whom have shown that they can perform on a hilly course. If that does end up being the Kenyan team, they will have a genuine shot at an Olympic podium sweep.
The London Marathon showed us that Tigst Assefa is mortal (but still very good). When the Ethiopian ran 2:11:53 in Berlin last year, it separated her by quite some margin from every other woman in history. Her second-place finish in London is nothing to be ashamed of, but it does shrink that margin and shows that other women are probably capable of running close to her world record time on a perfect course with great weather and male pacers. If Assefa decides to go to Paris, there's no guarantee she'll win, or even medal.
I say “if” because she simply might not choose to compete at the Olympics. The Ethiopian Athletics Federation will definitely want her there, but a generous appearance fee from the Berlin Marathon could tempt her to go to the German capital a month later.
In an interview with The Guardian, she explained that she “…wants to stay in the sport for a long time, and I do want to improve my world record. So, in the future, I want to run under two hours and 10 minutes.”
It will really just come down to what Assefa values more: a world record or an Olympic title. If Berlin can promise her that they will build the race around a sub-2:10 attempt, it might be more important to her to chase that historical barrier rather than an Olympic gold medal.
Tigst Assefa breaks the women’s marathon world record by more than two minutes at the 2023 Berlin Marathon
Photo Credit: ©SCC EVENTS/Jean-Marc Wiesner
Elite Men
With a lead group of 10 reaching 30km without a move, Kenenisa Bekele decided to blow the race open and halved the pack in less than a kilometre. Paying little respect to the Ethiopian icon, the rest of the quintet was happy to let Bekele eat up the wind as they ignored his requests for some help up the front. Growing impatient, Bekele quickly did away with the rest of his countrymen, which left only Kenya’s Alexander Mutiso running alongside him as they ticked past the 20-mile mark.
Kenenisa Bekele (R) and Alexander Mutiso (L) lead the 2024 London Marathon
The pair built a healthy lead over the rest of the field, but the effects of their earlier surge were starting to show. Mutiso found six seconds over Bekele as he passed 40km, despite having slowed to an equivalent of 2:12 marathon pace by this point. The Kenyan continued to extend that lead until the finish, crossing the line in 2:04:01, 14 seconds clear of his Ethiopian rival. Bekele matched his best-ever London Marathon result, coming home for silver and improving his master’s world record by four seconds.
“This is the biggest result of my career. It was a good day for me and I’m happy with that,” said Mutiso after the race. It is his first win at a World Marathon Major.
The rest of the athletes who were in that lead group at halfway fell apart. Frenchman Hassan Chahdi had the best finish outside of the top two, coming home for fifth after running the second half of the race almost five minutes slower than the first. Kinde Atanaw finished eighth after losing more than eight minutes on his opening split, and Seifu Tura plodded through the latter half of his race in 1:34:51 – more than 30 minutes slower than his opening half. The other five runners didn’t finish.
This dumbfounding collapse from the leaders made way for Britain’s Emile Cairess, who, after being just 13th at halfway, found himself crossing the line in third. Fellow Briton Mahamed Mahamed finished fourth, meaning both men will be on the start line in Paris.
Emile Cairess approaches the finish line in third place at the 2024 London Marathon
“I’m absolutely delighted to be going to the Olympics,” Cairess exclaimed, opening his post-race interview with perhaps the most British comment we’ve ever heard at a Major.
“It’s a dream come true. I wanted to run a bit quicker today, but the conditions didn’t allow. It was very windy out there.”
While running the Olympic qualifying time as a Briton is enough to get you on the plane to France (or train or bus, I suppose), Kenya and Ethiopia literally have hundreds of athletes who have run under the standard, so selection for the Olympic team is at the discretion of the national athletics bodies. Athletics Kenya should have a pretty straightforward job: with Eliud Kipchoge and Benson Kipruto all but confirmed for the team, Alexander Mutiso’s convincing win in tough conditions last weekend should be enough to land him that third and final spot.
The Ethiopian Athletics Federation has a trickier task ahead of them. Boston champion Sisay Lemma is definitely on the team, which leaves the remaining two spots realistically open to five men: Kenenisa Bekele, Tamirat Tola, Dawit Wolde, Takele Bikila, and Deresa Geleta. I’m going to leave the details of how these men stack up against each other to a separate article because there’s quite a lot to break down. But, for those wondering, Bekele, who will be 42 when the Paris Olympics arrive, has a very good chance of being on the team.
You can find the full results of the 2024 London Marathon here.