The 2025 London Marathon: Assefa and Sawe Kick Home to Win History’s Largest Race

In bit-too-warm conditions, the 2025 London Marathon welcomed more finishers across the line than any race in history, with almost 60,000 runners taking on the iconic course. Both the men's and women's races were won by decisive kicks a long way from home, with Olympic silver medallist Tigst Assefa taking out the women's category and the fastest-living debutant Sabastian Sawe winning the men's race.

Elite Women

Right from the gun, Sifan Hassan, Tigst Assefa, Megertu Alemu, and Joyciline Jepkosgei separated themselves from the rest, putting 50 seconds into the chase pack by 5km. With the late withdrawal of the overall and women’s-only marathon world record holders Ruth Chepng’etich and Peres Jepchirchir, these four women had just seen their chances of making the podium skyrocket, and they weren’t about to let an underdog spoil the party.

By 10km, Olympic champion Sifan Hassan had already started to drift off the back of the group. If this were anyone else, I would have been concerned, but you only have to think back two years to remember that the Dutchwoman stopped to stretch her hamstrings at multiple stages of the 2023 London Marathon, letting the gap to the leader stretch to 28 seconds at one point, and she still managed to win that race. Alas, she did find her way back onto the back of the leading trio, but she soon found herself detached once again – this time, however, she was not alone. Alemu (who, coincidentally, finished second to Hassan in that 2023 race) fell back with her and, unlike Hassan, never made it back to the front group, dropping out of the race just after halfway.

Sifan Hassan struggles on her own during the 2025 London Marathon

In traditional Hassan fashion, she once again clawed her way back to the front. She continued to yo-yo off the back of the leading pair until the elastic band finally snapped, and she found herself more than a minute in arrears in third. She was never to bother the leaders again, and the leading pair rolled through 35km side-by-side, ready to upgrade their silver and bronze from last year to silver and gold.

In 2024, Assefa and Jepkosgei crossed the line one second apart, and with just seven kilometres remaining, it seemed they were preparing for a similarly close finish. Assefa must have sensed this reality as well, and after losing two sprint finishes last year, decided she was not content to once again leave it to the Mall in front of Buckingham Palace. The move came in the form of a blistering 5:03 mile, and by 40km, the Ethiopian had a 56-second gap over her Kenyan counterpart. Assefa pushed hard to the finish line, eventually breaking the tape in a new women’s-only marathon world record of 2:15:50.

Tigst Assefa celebrates winning the 2025 London Marathon

Jepkosgei, meanwhile, faded hard in the closing stages. Assefa’s move was decisive but ultimately unnecessary, as Jepkosgei stumbled home in 2:18:44, having lost two minutes on the Ethiopian in the final two kilometres. Hassan completed the podium in 2:19:00, just running out of room to mount an epic comeback on Jepkosgei.

If there was a textbook detailing how to win a marathon, Assefa’s performance at the 2025 London Marathon would be the case study. She sat patiently on the heels of the pacemakers until the last one dropped out, then sat on the shoulder of her lone rival until she sensed weakness, before finally unleashing a devastating kick that saw the gap grow from zero to three minutes in just seven kilometres. Add to that the fact that she did all this in the world’s most competitive marathon and ran a women’s-only marathon world record, and this may go down as the most underrated performance of her career. Her ridiculous 2:11:53 in Berlin in 2023 shocked the world; her sprint finish with Hassan in Paris produced one of the most epic stories of the Olympics: her win in London yesterday won’t receive nearly as much attention as either of those, but those who truly appreciate the event will walk away from this weekend knowing they have witnessed one of the most dominant wins in recent memory.

Tigst Assefa and Joyciline Jepkosgei embrace after finishing first and second at the 2025 London Marathon

Elite Men

While women’s marathon running is currently enjoying the best at the height of their powers, men’s marathon running is witnessing a changing of the guard.

This is not the first time the London Marathon finishing chute – just 200m from Buckingham Palace – has ushered in the next generation of marathon running royalty. A decade ago, Eliud Kipchoge sprinted away from world record holders Dennis Kimetto and Wilson Kipsang to assert himself as the best in the world. In 2023, Kelvin Kiptum oversaw Kipchoge’s abdication, backing up his 2:01 debut with another 2:01 and setting the still-standing course record. Sadly, Kiptum’s reign was cut short by a fatal car crash last year, and the running world has been searching for an heir to its marathon throne.

Enter Sabastian Sawe (which I’ve been incorrectly spelling as Sebastian until now – apologies!). With a group of 10 athletes still in contention at 30km, the 2025 London Marathon was always going to see a dramatic finish, but I don’t think anyone expected this. When nine athletes moved to the side of the road to grab a drink, Sawe saw his opportunity to pounce, and by the time everyone else looked up, he was gone. Courtesy of a 2:40 kilometre – the fastest ever run in a marathon – he was able to open what proved to be an insurmountable gap. Half marathon world record holder and marathon debutant Jacob Kiplimo was the only man who tried to respond to the move, but Sawe hammered out a 13:56 from 30 – 35km, a pace that even the 56-minute half marathon man could not match. The Kenyan went on to cross the line in 2:02:27, with Kiplimo finishing some 70 seconds back in a new Ugandan record of 2:03:37.

Came. Sawe. Conquered.

Sabastian Sawe wins the 2025 London Marathon

Less than a minute behind, defending champion Alexander Munyao and Olympic silver medallist Abdi Nageeye came charging down the Mall in a sprint finish rarely seen in the marathon. Both athletes were given the same time, but in a photo finish review, the bronze medal was awarded to Munyao.

Unlike the women’s race, which ultimately became the Tigst Assefa show, there are a few different takeaways from the men’s race. The first is that Sabastian Sawe has officially joined my very unofficial list of people I think capable of breaking the men’s marathon world record and, potentially, the two-hour barrier. The list consists of just three names – reigning Chicago and Boston Marathon champion John Korir, half marathon world record holder and London runner-up Jacob Kiplimo, and now Sawe – and while I have no idea which (if any) of them will do it, Sawe is undeniably most similar to current world record holder, Kiptum.

In 2022, Kiptum became the fastest-living debutant when he won the Valencia Marathon. In 2024, Sawe did the same thing. In 2023, Kiptum won the London Marathon in his second marathon ever. Yesterday, Sawe did the same thing. Both men enjoy a decisive move around 30km, and both men have clocked sub-14 5km splits late in their race to seal the win. True, Sawe hasn’t broken 2:02 yet (while Kiptum never ran slower than 2:01), but he has now joined Kiptum and Kipchoge as the only men to register more than one result in history’s top-ten list (and in just two races, no less).

Sabastian Sawe (L) and Eliud Kipchoge (R) shake hands after finishing first and sixth at the 2025 London Marathon

Speaking of Kipchoge, the 40-year-old pulled off a Kenenisa Bekele-esque run to register his best result since 2023, crossing the line sixth in 2:05:25 after falling off the lead pack of 10 around 30km. While the days of Kipchoge running 2:01 are well and truly behind us, it was a good sign to see him mixing it with the youngsters and an even better sign that he was able to pick off so many of them in the closing stages.

The last big story to come out of yesterday’s race was the debut of Kiplimo. While 2:03:37 is hardly a mind-boggling debut, especially from a man who ran 56:42 for a half marathon in February, it’s not exactly slow, either. True, the performance has tempered any expectations of a pending marathon world record, but to finish second in such a deep field and be the only man capable of at least attempting to respond to Sawe’s epic move around 30km are positive enough takeaways that I can confidently say the 24-year-old has a bright future ahead of him.

Jacob Kiplimo comes second at the 2025 London Marathon

So, what did we learn from the men’s 2025 London Marathon? While names like Sawe and Kiplimo may never become as household as Kipchoge, running fans who (somehow) haven’t heard of them yet won’t forget them after this weekend. Kiplimo chasing Sawe up The Embankment with no one else in sight is something we will very likely see again, and the pair taking out top honours at this race will, I’m sure, be looked back on as the inflection point of a new era of men’s marathon running.

To view the full results from the 2025 London Marathon, click here.