London Marathon 2024: A Record Breaking Day!

It was a record-breaking day at the 2024 TCS London Marathon.

With three of the four fastest female runners of all time, including world record holder Tigst Assefa and current Olympic champion Peres Jepchirchir, there was a lot of pre-race excitement about the possibility of a new women’s only world record and a new women’s course record. The time to beat was 2:17:01. 

Setting out at 2:14 pace, the race became tactical in the second-half as they slowed to focus more on winning and less on the time, with Tigst Assefa, Peres Jepchirchir, Megertu Alemu and Joyciline Jepkosgei thrillingly running side-by-side through the final miles.

With 400m to go, Kenyan Jepchirchir pulled clear with an incredible finish and broke the women’s only world record with her time of 2:16:16, followed by Assefa, Jepkosgei, then Alemu. All four women ran under the previous women’s only world record. Jepchirchir’s time was also a new London course record (to qualify as a women’s only world record, the women have to have a separate start to the men, with no male competitors or male pacemakers alongside them).

In the men’s race, Kenyan Alexander Mutiso Munyao won in 2:04:01, followed by Ethiopian marathon great Kenenisa Bekele, whose time of 2:04:15 lowered his own master’s marathon world record by four seconds. British runner Emile Cairess finished third in 2:06:46, with fellow Brit Mahamad Mahamad running 2:07:05 for fourth place.

Cairess and Mahamed respectively run the second and third fastest British marathons of all time, behind Mo Farah’s British record of 2:05:11. That should ensure Cairess and Mahamed are selected for the British Olympic team in the marathon.

The first British woman to finish was Mhairi Maclennan in 2:29:15, and 11th overall.

In the elite wheelchair races it was a Swiss clean sweep: Marcel Hug won the men’s race, his fifth London Marathon title, and Catherine Debrunner won her second London Marathon. 

For the first time there’s equal prize money for all elite athletes. Winners at the 2024 London Marathon receive £44,000/$55,000, with the runner-up awarded £24,000/$30,000 and third place earning £18,000/$22,500. 

More records are expected to be broken. It’s likely that this race will see the most finishers ever at the London Marathon, with over 50,000 runners set to complete the course. And once totals are added up, this race could set a new record for the greatest amount of money raised for charity in a single day, surpassing the £66.4m which was raised in the 2019 London Marathon.

It’s been an incredible and record-breaking day on the streets of London at the 2024 London Marathon. Congratulations to all runners! 

Photo: @JMRuther4d Jamie Rutherford